Sky Ninja
by twilightinthedark
Summary: Three Ninja appear from the sky and just in time for the Chunin Exams. Could there presence change Konoha's life for the better, or worst.
1. Arrival

Welcome to the fanfiction, **Sky Ninja**.

New ninja, new battles, and a whole lot of interesting stuff.

Chapter 1 Redone

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. But if I did, then you would have never seen all these cool characters in the manga or anime that are in them today.**

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(Somewhere on the borders of the Fire Country)

On a dirt path, an old man was walking his cattle to a nearby village to trade.

"Well Ol' Betsy, we'll be in the village soon. I just hope nothing happens on our way there." The old man said to his precious cow, trying to comfort her. Ol' Betsy replied with a 'MOO', and with a ring from her bell.

The old man and his cow had finally arrived at the village with nothing happening to them. However, looking up to the sky, the man saw something fly across the sky. Then another, and then a third.

"That's odd. Aren't shooting stars supposed to be at night? Ah, it must be my old eyes playing tricks on me." he shook his head and continued on to the trading post that the village had.

Back at the path that the old man and his cow were at. Something came flying through the air, crashing right into the ground. The object made no crater, but instead stabbed into the ground, like a large knife. The object appeared to be a large crystal with a purple-black color.

Just as the purple crystal fell into the ground, two more followed in its place along the path. The crystals remained still imbedded into the ground for a few minutes. And as mysterious as they were when they first landed, they got even more weirder. Steam shot out of one of the crystal's sides as the steamed area began to lift itself to reveal that the large gem was hollow on the inside.

A hand emerged from the inside of one of the empty crystals grabbing onto the sedge of the opening. Out from one of these crystals came a boy. With his short white hair and facial features, the boy appeared to be in his early teens. A headband with an unknown symbol, five curved lines merging in the center, was placed on the boy's forehead just above his blue eyes. He was wearing a gray vest with white trimming along it, and a black undershirt beneath it. His gray pants were padded along the shins and outer thigh areas and over his black shinobi sandals, his weapons pouch being located on his right hip. Two strange, dark blue, cylindrical, mechanisms were attached to his arms, each having a hole at the front of them, above the hands.

Another one of the crystals had also opened. Emerging from it was another boy about the same age as the one before. Instead of white like the one before, this green eyed boy had gray hair falling down to in between his shoulders with his headband placed on his forehead as well. His facial features were more beastly than the previous person's, but still retained a humane sense. He had displayed the same kind of vest and undershirt, but with shoulder pads and a darker shade of gray. The black pants went down to his ankles, but had no guards or pads, or even a weapons pouch for that matter. Instead, on his left shoulder pad were a large assortment of kunai along piece of string going down his back. The kunai all had several holes placed around their handles at random while having a slitted hole at the ends.

The final crystal opened up revealing yet another boy the same age as the others. His jet black hair, matching his cold eyes, flowed down below his hips. His headband also on his forehead, but appeared to be more loose than the other two. Not sharing a matching vest like his two companions, the boy only had on a black undershirt, sleeves running down to his elbow, with white trimming. He possessed a weapons pouch at the left side of his back an another at his right thigh, the one on the back being more rectangular. Strapped onto the boys back, was held a large sword at about five feet in length with a light blue ball at the base. A gap in the middle of the blade extended from its tip to the blue ball. An strange aura could be sensed around the figure.

"Well. That was very enjoyable." The gray haired boy said, while rubbing his neck in pain.

"Not really the best trip you could have huh, brother Chichi?" the black haired boy said, making sure that his sword was still on his back.

"Where are we exactly, brother Musuko?" Chichi asked the other boy. The white haired boy looked up into the sky in reply, analyzing his surroundings.

After a quick analysis, "We're just three days away from Konohagakure." said Musuko.

"Well I guess we better get going then. The Chunin Exams aren't gonna wait just for us." said Seirei, the black haired boy. The three unknown shinobi walked down the path, leaving behind their crystal capsules where they landed. Their next stop was to be in Konohagakure for this years Chunin Exams.

(Three days later, in Konohagakure)

Team 7 was training vigorously for the Chunin Exams that were to start the very next day. The blonde, known as Uzumaki Naruto, was trying his best to hold his ground against his other male team mate, Uchiha Sasuke. Meanwhile, Sasuke was just breaking a sweat from their little taijutsu training. Finally, the raven haired boy threw in a kick that sent the blonde ninja over a fence. A fence which their third team mate, a girl named Haruno Sakura, was also sitting on. Seeing the boy hurtling toward her getting larger by the second, she tried to get away, but was too slow; Sakura fell off the fence, taking Naruto with her in a horrendous plummet to the ground.

Once they landed, the blonde boy was laying atop his pink haired partner in a very, "suggestive" position. When they saw each other, both of them froze with shock at the predicament they were in at the moment. But all of that changed when Sakura's temper kicked in. ... and sent it flying into Naruto's face, which hurled him back in the air, over the fence, and landing his body right next to Sasuke.

"That bad, huh dobe?" Naruto merely nodded his head in silence as blood came down his broken nose.

Coming around the fence the angered pink haired girl began yelling at Naruto. "You better hope no one saw that, or you won't be alive for the exams tomorrow!" She said waving her fist in front of her.

"Well then, he better get running." an unknown voice came from an alley way near the fence. Out popped a white haired shinobi, Musuko, quietly chuckling. "Because I saw the whole thing." He said that as he closed up a notebook in his hand and placed it in his weapons pouch.

Sakura, staring evilly at the pouch. "What...did...you...write...in...that?" she said, each word with even more killer intent than the last.

"Just some notes about you guys and my first impression. I do that to all new ninja I see." He gave a smile to the girl. Sadly, the smile wasn't returned with what he hoped for. Musuko felt even more killer intent than the times before coming from the kunoichi now. "Oh crap." Musuko started performing handsigns as Sakura came running after him.

"Pervert! I know that you were writing about what happened! Give me the notebook!" She threw her fist right into the white haired boys face, sending him flying into the wall only to be turned into a log.

Sakura, knowing that this was a kawarimi, started to look around for the presumed perv.

Back with Sasuke and Naruto, Sasuke turned over to a nearby tree to see Musuko hanging upside down by his legs writing in his notebook, shaking his head.

"Big forehead, over tempered, and powerful punch." he spoke out loud as he wrote in his notebook. Sasuke merely smirked at the first comment, knowing how true that was.

"Determined, friendly, and not all that bright." speaking once again. Sasuke once again smirked knowing who the whitey was talking about. Naruto had now gotten up and was mad at the last comment that the boy made, not hearing the first two at all.

"Hey mister, I am too bright! Who gives you the right to go judging people anyway!" Naruto yelled out. Musuko mumbled one last comment right after looking at Narutos face once more. Then he began to write out loud once more.

"Self-centered, has a kekkei genkai, and might be, 'gay'." finishing up his writing, he flipped shut his note book and placed it back in his pocket. Sasuke was now angered at the comments made about him, but was also amazed that the kid found out that he had a kekkei genkai by just looking at him. The raven haired shinobi was about to ask him how he knew, but was rudely interrupted by his number one fangirl.

"How dare you call Sasuke-kun gay! He is not gay and he will marry me some day!" Musuko looked at the bulging vein on the massive forehead. He turned over to Sasuke with an empathetic look on his face.

"Fangirls, huh?" Sasuke merely bowed his head down in shame, giving the boy his answer. "Don't worry, if she really does care for you, she'll leave you alone. Either that or try her best to keep you happy." Musuko gave the Uchiha a smile, and with that, fled the scene. The three were left by themselves, each with their own thoughts about the stranger, and how he could read them so well.

Elsewhere in Konoha, a boy with a pineapple shaped haircut was relaxing near a tree, as his two other team mates were training with each other. The pineapple kid then sat up out of his lazy daze as he sensed someone from afar coming closer to their area. As he rose up, his two team mates noticed as well and looked in the direction the boy was looking in. On the path, walking by himself, was a gray haired genin with kunais on his shoulder, and staring up into the sky, hands in pockets, apparently thinking about something.

"Hey, do you mind?" The female of the trio shouted as Chichi started walking right into their training ground. "We're training here!"

The gray haired boy didn't respond, as he was still looking up into the sky.

"Hey, mister! Did you hear me? I said-"

"Yeah, I heard you." Chichi cut the kunoichi short, while still looking up into the sky. "But I decided to ignore you." The blonde girl was now furious at the stranger for ignoring her. She threw a punch at the back of his head, only to hit nothing as the body of Chichi vanished into thin air. He reappeared lying down next to the tree next to the pineapple boy.

"You're too aggressive. Make sure the next time you attack, it's not out of anger." he stood up and walked away. But before he was out of sight, Chichi spoke once more. "Lazy kid, actually try to train, otherwise you won't pass." and with that he disappeared from sight. Leaving behind him three confused shinobi, one not as much since he left it as being troublesome.

In a bookstore somewhere else, Kakashi, the sensei of Team 7, had exited out of the shop with a new book from his favorite series, Icha Icha Paradise. With his masked nose deep into the book, reading everything that he could, he did not see another person coming towards him, who also had his faced stuck in a book.

The two collided with each other and fell down, dropping there books onto the ground as the result.

"My apologies. I wasn't looking where I was going." Kakashi said, picking up what he thought was his book.

"It's okay, I wasn't looking where I was going either." the black haired boy said as he grabbed what _he_ believed to be his book. The two waved to each other and went straight into their books once more. But it only took both of them a few steps, until they completely stopped where they were. As if they were mirrors of each other, the two readers walked backwards at the same time and pace to where they last stood before they collided. The two looked out of there books to look each other in the eyes, or eye from Kakashi's standpoint.

"You read too much." Kakashi merely said, as they traded their books.

"And you're a pervert." Seirei replied, and continued walking down the path.

Kakashi thought, '_What on earth was he reading? It all looked like a bunch of scribbles.'_ but being Kakashi, he simply set it aside and went straight back to his book.

(At night)

Near the center of the city was located a hotel which held most of the shinobi that had traveled to Konoha for the exams. To the south was Chichi, walking towards the entrance of their hotel, and still with his head up in the clouds. His brother, Musuko, was coming from the northeast, writing some last notes in his little booklet. And finally, the brother Seirei, came walking along, carrying his book next to him.

The three then met up with each other at the entrance, bowing to each other.

"Report, brothers." Seirei asked his siblings.

"Their defenses are weak, but that is probably because of the exams. The countries are supposed to be at peace for them anyways." Chichi answered. "Also it doesn't seem that they have any defense from an air attack."

"Alright. Good work brother Chichi. What about you brother Musuko?"

"Their shinobi appear to be strong, but some ninja around here seem to have a hidden intent for this exam. And to make it more interesting, they all seem to be from two villages."

"It might be an alliance between the villages. But what would they be planning?"

"I don't know brother Chichi, but I bet there will be more casualties than just from these exams. For now, we shall retire and be on our guard tomorrow." Seirei pronounced, as Chichi and Musuko bowed down once more and went into the hotel. The black haired brother remained outside for awhile longer, opening his book to re-read a segment in it. Once he read it he closed the book and shook his head.

"I hate spoilers." Seirei put the book in his weapons pouch and went into the hotel to sleep for the night.

Naruto was opening up his door to his apartment, when a question popped into his head that had been itching at him ever since that afternoon.

'_Who was that white haired kid? He judged me so easily, like he knew me, but he just met me.'_ closing the door behind him, Naruto got out of his clothes and into his pajamas. He wanted to get a good nights sleep, because the next day was going to be the first day of the Chunin Exams.

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Short chapter in my opinion, but don't worry they will get longer. Please review as not only will it give me more self-esteem (don't worry i don't have a low self-esteem) but it will also put you in my respect, as long as the reviews are good. Anyways, hope to see you next chapter, I'm out.


	2. Exams Begin

Chapter 2 Redone

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto and don't really have a chance at it unless i become a multi-gazillionaire.**

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The sun rose over the horizon, welcoming the new day to Konoha's citizens and shinobi. But this day was no ordinary day, this day was the beginning of the Chunin Exams.

Naruto woke up the same as usual; throwing a kunai into his twentieth alarm clock as it woke him up. The blonde got up, prepared for the day and went over to training ground 7 to meet up with his fellow team mates. When the orange suited ninja arrived, he was greeted by both Sakura and Sasuke, yelling at him for being late.

"Oh come on, it was only five minutes!" Naruto defending himself.

"Still, thanks to you we will look like a bunch of weaklings because we're late, dobe." Sasuke said with an evil glare. Naruto let out a sigh, giving up on the debate, and just walked with his team to where they were to be for the Exams.

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At the hotel in the middle of the city, the mysterious team of shinobi had left their apartment together looking around.

The black haired shinobi spoke up, "Brother Chichi, exactly where are we supposed to go again?" Chichi pulled out an information pamphlet about the exams.

"We are to head to the west, it's a building we can't miss since it says 'Chunin Exams Here' and we are to go to room 301, I believe, which is on the third floor." the gray haired shinobi replied putting the pamphlet away. The three faced towards the west of the city and began sprinting away towards the designated area.

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At the building for the Chunin Exams, Team 7 had finally arrived and headed up to the third floor. But when they arrived to the room, they saw a group of people standing outside of the door leading into the room.

"Come on, let us in!" a boy with more green than any man should wear in his life, shouted out.

"And you're going to take the Chunin exam? Pathetic," an older looking boy guarding the door said.

"Appreciate the fact that we're doing this. The Chunin exam is extremely hard. You weaklings would just be slaughtered." another one said mockingly.

"Let us in you stupid jerks! We're here for the first part of the Chunin Exam." said a girl with two buns in her hair and a pink shirt.

"Give up. The Chunin exam is way too difficult for any of you. Even we failed three times," the second older boy guarding the door said.

"Have you any idea how many like you we've seen killed or injured for life by this exam?" the first one asked.

"A Chunin is a team captain. Both the safety of the team and the success of the mission all depend on the captain. And you're trying to become that? Spare us the nonsense."

"What's going on?" Naruto questioned being on the outside of the crowd.

"It looks like these jerks aren't gonna let us in." Sakura replied with anger boiling up inside of here.

"Hey excuse me!" a voice was heard down the hall just in time to stop Sakura from going on a rampage. "The Chunin Exams are on the third floor right?" down the hall was the white haired boy, Musuko.

One of the guys at the door replied, "Yeah."

"OK, just wondering." Musuko walks over to the stairs leading to the lower floor, "Hey guys, it is the third floor, come on." the two other brothers come walking up the staircase. Once the three awee together, they turn and look at the group of ninja surrounding the door.

"What are they doing, brother Musuko?" Chichi asked.

"I don't know, they must not be taking the exams I guess." Seirei just shrugged his shoulders and started walking towards a wall. When he reached the wall, everyone thought he was an idiot for going straight into a solid obstacle. But instead of Seirei stopping, he actually went straight through the wall and disappeared.

Most all the shinobi were seen with their jaws opened and completely confused. Chichi then followed his brother's actions and also walked through the wall. Musuko was about to do the same, when someone from the crowd spoke up.

"Hey! How on earth are you guys going through walls?" this question stopped the white haired boy in his tracks as he looked at the ninja with confused look as well.

"What are you talking about. There's no wall. Don't these stairs go to the third floor?" The confused shinobis' jaws dropped even lower.

"But there are no stairs there! **This is the third floor!**" another ninja blurted out and about to go into a mental breakdown.

"No." Musuko replied, "This is the second floor. Up there is the third." and with that, the boy walked through the wall.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!" almost everyone cried out at once, except for the ones who had already put the pieces together.

"Isn't it obvious, dobe. This is a genjutsu," Sasuke said coldly, "The guards here made us believe that this was the third floor, but we are in fact on the second." the two guards huffing at their discovery, released the genjutsu and left the group to go to the top floor.

"Well it was fun while it lasted." the first guard said to his companion. The second did not respond due to being too far in thought, "You all right man?"

"Those guys, they saw right through our genjutsu. They acted as if... as if it was never there in the first place." thinking even more on the subject, he went to silence as the two released their henge to become two adult shinobi. "Who are they?"

In the room where the exams were to be held, everyone was now present and accounted for as the final team arrived through the doors.

"Well well, look who decided to show, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. The great Team 7." a boy with a dog on his shoulder said in a sarcastic voice.

"Knock it off, Kiba." Naruto said with his hand balled up into a fist. His fighting with the canine boy stopped when he saw the white haired boy along with his two brothers sitting in a corner off in the distance. "Hey Kiba."

"Yeah?"

"Do you know who those three are?" pointing towards the three brothers. Kiba looked over to see Musuko writing down in his notepad mouthing words.

"No clue, but that gray haired kid came over and began taking interest in my dog. After awhile, the dude in the white hair took out that notepad of his and wrote down: dog lover, loyal, and energetic. That my friend are the true qualities of an Inuzuka." he smirked in victory.

"He did the same thing with my team, except he wrote that I was not that bright, Sakura had a huge forehead, and that Sasuke might be gay." no matter how hard he tried, Kiba couldn't help but fall on the floor laughing after hearing those comments. "Hey, it's not funny!" Naruto yelled out, almost making everyone in the room hear him.

Kiba recollecting himself said, "Well you got to admit those are pretty darn true. I mean, it's not the best idea to be wearing an orange suit, its practically saying, 'I'm here, please kill me.'" the blonde rubbed the back of his head fully knowing that his outfit was not the best of choices, but he liked it.

"So you don't know anything at all about him except that he wrote down good stuff about you?"

"Nope, don't know anything at all, but I do know that they're good in my book." smiled Kiba with his canine teeth.

"I could be of assistance." the two looked over to see a leaf shinobi quite a few years older than they were with glasses that looked like they should be on the head of some kid with a lightning bolt scar. "Hello my name is Kabuto."

"Exactly how could you help?" Kiba said not liking this character one bit. The older ninja pulled out a deck of cards from his pouch and showed them to the two.

"These are called info cards. All I have to do is place a small amount of chakra into them and they will reveal all the information on a particular ninja. Just give me anything, name, appearance, which village they go to."

"That kid right over there." Naruto pointed to Musuko who had just sneezed.

"Aw that's no fun, you know exactly what they look like. Oh well." Kabuto pulled out one card from the deck and placed it on the ground. He then placed two fingers on the card releasing chakra into the card, the card began to spin faster and faster, it went so fast that it actually began to spark. "What the?!" that's all he could say before his hand was blasted off the card by a burst of electricity. The room was quiet now with everyone staring at the miniature eruption.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Naruto said pointing at the card which was now engulfed in flames.

"No, that's not." Kabuto looked down at his card, then over to the white haired boy who had seemed unaffected by the eruption along with his team mates. "Just who is that kid anyways?"

Kabuto or anyone else for that matter had no time to answer that due to a puff of smoke appearing in the front of the room.

"Good morning, I'll be your first of many nightmares for this exam, Ibiki Morino. Everyone form a single file line to receive your seat numbers. Those who don't get a number in seven minutes will fail immediately." a monstrous man with numerous scars across his face spoke out from the smoke.

Everyone quickly got into a line and as fast as they could, got their numbers and took a seat.

"All right times up! All who don't have a number, YOU FAIL!" Ibiki shouted out. A few teams then left the building with their heads bowed down in defeat.

"Now that all the slow pokes are gone, we will begin the first part of the exams; the written test."

Like before on the second floor, they all dropped their jaws. They had no idea that there was going to be a written test. Some people were not phased at all by this fact, like Sakura, but others were basically having a nervous breakdown, like Naruto.

Ibiki went over the rules while the papers were being passed out to the shinobi. He talked about a point system, and what the penalty was for each wrong answer, but he put the most emphasized on cheating.

"Alright, now that we all know the rules...begin." the timer was set for one hour and the genin all went to their tests.

A few minutes went by and some of the students finally found out what they had to do to pass, they had to cheat.

Sasuke was one of these people who found out, and used his Sharingan to duplicate the movements of another person's pencil.

Hyuuga Neji and his cousin Hyuuga Hinata, each used their Byakugan to see around the room for answers.

Ino used her mind possession jutsu to possess Sakura, the master of tests, and gave her answers to her team mates.

Another shinobi who had some sort of metallic mechanism on his right arm, and bandages all over his face, was doing something quite interesting.

"Tap-swish-swish-pause-tap-swish-tap-pause..." the bandaged shinobi smiled under his makeshift mask. "Yes, hearing the sound of the pencil moving along the paper, perfect."

"Tap-swish-BUMP-ish-taBUMP-swish-swisBUMP..." hearing a foreign noise, the shinobi looked over to the boy sitting to his right. It was the gray haired ninja, Chichi, giving a smirk each time he hit the table with his eraser.

"That idiot! His bumping is making me lose concentration on the sound." he looked down to see that Chichi's paper is faced down on the table showing that he should be done. "How could he be done already!?"

With Naruto...well...he was still in his nervous breakdown. "Aww man! What am I going to do, I don't know any of these questions! I'm going to fail! I'll never be hokage!"

Just then, he felt something hit his left hip. He looked down to see a pencil with something wrapped around it.

"Would you mind getting that for me?" to Naruto's surprise, the person sitting to his left was none other than Musuko. Naruto nodded and picked up the pencil. When he lifted it up, the paper wrapped around the pencil suddenly came loose and fell down his orange sleeve.

Musuko grabbed his pencil and said, "Keep it." as he placed the pencil back onto the table and leaned back in his chair.

With a quizzical look on his face, Naruto pulled out the paper and unwrapped it below the table so no one could see. To Naruto's shock, the paper had all the answers on it.

"Umm, N-Naruto." the blonde ninja looked to his right to see the Hyuuga heiress, Hinata.

'_Woah! When did she get there?'_ Naruto had no idea she was even sitting next to him. Then again, he didn't know that Musuko was either.

"I-If you w-want, you c-could look at m-my answers." she nudged her paper ever so slightly, which was completely filled with answers.

Wide eyed now, Naruto could not believe what was happening to him. He got all the answers from two people sitting next to him and they were both willing as well, this was a chance of a life time!

But because of Naruto's nature, he refused both chances and decided to do it himself. He handed back the piece of paper to Musuko who had a surprised look on his face. After awhile he smiled and leaned back in his chair again looking up to the ceiling.

'_The boy definitely isn't bright. But he does show that he doesn't take the easy way. And that's a good ninja in my book.'_ Musuko took out his note pad and wrote down, 'Good Ninja'.

The hour was up, and poor Naruto, even though he showed determination, didn't get a single question answered.

"All right, pencils down!" the torture specialist yelled out. "Now it is time for the final question of the test. But before I announce that, I will give you an option whether to take it or not."

"That's simple, we'll all take it!" a completely oblivious ninja in the back of the room shouted out.

"Hold on there, jumpy. The option is that if you don't take it, you're team fails with you and you have to take the exams next time. But if you do take the final question, and get it wrong... you will never be able to enter into the Chunin Exams ever, and remain a Genin for life!" this made everyone jaw dropped once again. "Now then." Ibiki smiled, "Choose."

It took awhile, but finally teams had begun leaving the room, not risking the chance of failure. Then out of the blue, a hand slammed down onto the table sending attention to a familiar blonde shinobi.

"You can't scare me! I will become hokage someday and this is the only way how! Believe it!"

The two ninja sitting next to the over confident boy were lost in their thoughts after seeing Narutos actions.

'_N-Naruto is s-so courageous.'_

'_Like I said before, the guys not bright. But he never takes the easy way out even if it means becoming a Genin forever.'_ Musuko opens his note pad once again and underlines the word 'Good Ninja'.

Ibiki stood silent unmoved by Narutos burst. '_The kids got guts I'll give him that. And it even looks like that his little speech has boost the others spirits. Dang, she's going to be mad at me for allowing this many to pass.'_ he looked around to see that no one was moving. "All right, it seems that you all have made your decisions. Very well then."

A long pause had settled upon the room, making all the Genin sit on the edge of their seats.

"YOU ALL PASS!" a large 'THUD' was heard at the same place where the hand slam was made.

Musuko and Hinata as well as other ninja sitting around Naruto looked down to the floor seeing a dazed blonde.

'_Oh the irony. The kid was anticipating for a question he was sure to fail at, but instead he gets no question and passes...well, passes out.'_ Musuko now underlining the words 'not very bright'. He looks up to see a blushing female with pale eyes staring at Narutos body.

"You know who he is?" Musuko asked pointing downward.

Hinata nodded and responded, "Y-Yes. H-He's Naruto."

On the side of the room, Seirei was looking over to the location of the crash. '_So that is the Jinnchuriki brother Musuko talked about. This is going to be very interesting.'_ he smiled for a moment only to have it change into an emotionless line across his face as he sensed something coming from outside.

The window shattered into pieces as a black ball shot through turning into a curtain attached with kunai. Inside the ball of clothe emerged a fully grown female with a fishnet shirt, tan coat and a purple pineapple for hair.

"Greeting maggots! I am your second examiner, Mitarashi Anko!" a silence settled onto the room once more, when Ibiki, from behind the curtain, cleared his throat.

"You're early, again."

Ankos eyes widened, then she smiled and rubbed the back of her head. "Oh really, am I? Whoops." after wandering her eyes amongst the remaining shinobi, her attention landed on a certain white haired boy writing in his note pad sitting write in front of her. "What you writing kid?"

"Oh nothing, I just have this habit of writing down my first impressions of people."

"Really? Let's see that." she grabs the notepad right out of his hands and began reading it to herself. '_Sadistic, snake style via sensei, painful childhood caused by sensei__.'_ her face showed pride, anger, and finally complete shock. How the boy find out about her sensei or her childhood by just looking at her, she'll never know.

"You're a weird kid." was all Anko said giving back the notepad.

"That may be so, but I am usually right about these things. And by the look on your face just a few seconds ago, I think I was right about that last bit of info." he gave her a smirk of victory as she looked at him in wonder. "But if you think I'm weird, you haven't met my brothers yet." Chichi and Seirei both smirked at the last statement.

Shaking herself back into reality, Anko began ranting on, "Alright twerps! Meet me tomorrow where your sensei tells you, no exceptions." and with that she disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Everyone then left the building to meet up with their senseis to find out their next destination for tomorrow.

Seirei and his brothers were walking down to reach the door, but were stopped by a certain destiny addict.

"Hey, white haired kid. What's you're name?" said the Hyuuga, known as Neji.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Musuko turned around to ask the pale eyed male.

"No, I don't believe so."

"Then why would I tell you my name if I don't know yours?"

"I am Hyuuga Neji. Now, what is your name?" Neji growled, aggravating at the delay.

"Now that's better. My name is Brother Musuko, and you don't like where you stand."

Neji was taken back at the comment, although the comment just came out of the blue, it was in fact true. "Ho-How did you know that?" The white haired genin simply smiled Neji's question, "Answer me!"

"I magician never reveals his secrets." Musuko turned around and began walking away from the Hyuuga.

* * *

The three brothers went walking down the street towards their hotel when they were stopped once again, but this time, by Team 7.

"Hey, guys! Wait up!" reluctantly the brothers stopped to see Naruto running up to them. "Hey I wanted to say thanks to you for giving me those answers, but I wanted to do the test by myself."

"I respect that in a shinobi." putting out his hand, "Musuko."

"Naruto." the blonde grabbed the hand and shook.

"Chichi." Naruto shook the gray haired boy's hand.

"Seirei." the final brother shook Naruto's hand. Then the rest of the rookies surrounded the brothers.

"So this kid is the one who gave you the answers and you still didn't take them. You really are a dobe." the raven haired Uchiha spoke out first. Just then, Sasuke recognized Musuko from the day before. "You're the idiot who called me gay." this got the female in the group to get her face turning bright red and veins popping out of her forehead as well as other girls around them that overheard.

"So you have more than just one fangirl, aye. Let me guess, last of your kind and they want to help "restore" your clan." Musuko nudging Sasuke's shoulder. All the Uchiha did was poor out killer intent due to the comment. "You really are gay, if you don't even laugh at that. Either that or you're just plain sexist." shoving even more killer intent on the new insult, Sasuke was about to kill someone, specifically the ninja who called him gay and sexist.

But Sakura was the first to act once again, she threw another fist right at Musuko's face, but instead of him even moving ,let alone dodging it, a hand shot out and caught the pink haired girls arm. She looked over to see that Seirei was holding her and was leaking out some killer intent of his own.

"Didn't I tell you to not attack in anger? Or did you already forget?"

"No I didn't, but you have no right to insult Sasuke-kun."

"You're telling me you haven't seen him act around girls? Just at first glance it looks like he thinks you are a burden, no offense, as well as every other girl that even says hi to him. He has to either be sexist, gay, or..." looking closer at Sasuke now. He showed off a tiny smirk, "Or he just doesn't want to lose anyone again."

Sasuke, like everyone else that had heard Musuko's predictions, was wide eyed. No one had yet figured out how he truly felt about the world since the Uchiha Massacre, he did hate everything, but that was because it was all taken away from him on that fateful day. He had closed his heart from it all, what remain was his vengeance against his brother.

"So, I am right." he turns around and leaves with his fellow siblings.

"S-Sasuke, is...is he right?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke didn't respond for awhile, he just stood there looking at the three men from who knows where. But when he did speak, it was not directed at Naruto's question, but at Seirei, Chichi, and Musuko.

"What are you?"

Chichi then answered, while still walking. "We are Sky Ninja." then they disappeared into thin air, leaving behind two concerned shinobi and a petrified Uchiha.

* * *

Sasukes true feelings revealed. And just exactly are these new ninja capable of. We'll find out when they come back into the next chapter, The Forest of Death.

I always like reviews and will always ask for them. So don't be shy, send some reviews, don't care if they're bad just make sure you can support what you said or you'll look like an idiot. I'm out.


	3. Forest p1

Here be the 3rd Chapter of **Sky Ninjas**

Chapter 3 Redone

**Disclaimer: Dont own Naruto, I just like making up stories for the blonde guy.**

* * *

The second day of the Exams had arrived in the city of Konoha. This day would be when the shinobi would enter into the Forest of Death. **Bum Bum BUUUUUMMM!**

All the ninja that had passed on the first day were present and standing in front of a fenced area, which had large trees and a dark aura about it. All of the genin were looking on wondering what lied in store for them. Without warning, the pineapple jounin, Anko, had then appeared out of nowhere, getting a few gasps from the shinobi.

"Okay, you wimps! This is where the second part of the exams will be held." Anko went over the description of the forest as well as the rules of what was needed to be done.

The teams were then handed either a heaven scroll or an earth scroll and then assigned to a designated entrance to the forest. And after a small remark from the orange ninja as well as Anko getting a little too close with both a kunai and her own tongue, everyone left to their entrances to begin.

At Team 7's entrance Naruto and Sakura were eagerly awaiting entry to the forest. But Sasuke, he was still thinking over what happened yesterday after the test. Out of all his whole life, no one, absolutely no one, had read him like that, except for his brother, Itachi.

"Sasuke?" the raven haired ninja shook out of his thoughts and saw Sakura looking a bit concerned for him. "Are you still thinking about what happened the other day? Because if you are, I-"

"I'm fine. And if I wasn't, I wouldn't need help from you." Sasuke snapped back at the pink haired kunoichi. Sakura just turned away from the Uchiha in shame.

"Hey, she was just trying to help you out!" Naruto burst out in anger. "Why can't you just be nice to her for a change!" Sasuke merely looked away with a small huff. He had no need for someone who needed to show kindness, he needed someone who could help him kill Itachi.

The door opened up, which stopped the team's conversation, and sent the three of them running into the Forest of Death.

* * *

Elsewhere, the brothers, who were known as 'Sky Ninja', had huddled together to form a plan.

"So it's agreed. We will split up, find the heaven scroll, and signal each other when we either had found the scroll or need assistance." Seirei clarified the plan, and the other two nodded. And with that, the three jumped off into different directions, all three in search of the same thing.

* * *

After a few hours, Team 8 had been traveling around the forest, searching for their second scroll. Suddenly, Kiba's dog, Akamaru, began to shiver and whimper with fear.

"W-What's going on with Akamaru?" Hinata asked worrying about her team mate's pet.

"I don't know." Kiba said, also worried about how his dog was reacting, but Hinata's question was soon answered when they all sensed another ninja nearby.

Slowly they crept up to a bush, as to conceal themselves, and saw a ninja with red hair and a large gourd on his back along with two others, one a female with a huge fan and another boy with something wrapped in bandages on his back. The three were facing a group of Rain Ninja, who were ready for some blood.

Akamaru, now seeing the red haired ninja, shivered even more, and hid into Kiba's jacket.

"Something's wrong." Kiba whispered as to not be detected. "Akamaru can sense other's chakra levels, but it has never scared him like this before." Kiba was now petting his dog to comfort him as the rest looked on at the fight.

The three couldn't hear what they were saying, but they were able to see the fight. They saw how thousands upon thousands of needles shot out of the umbrellas the Rain Ninja held, and flew straight at the gourd holder. When the needles made impact, dust shot up everywhere, concealing the red haired shinobi, as he didn't move from where he stood.

As the dust was settling Akamaru shot his head out of Kiba's coat and began sniffing the air. And as if he had just found the land of extremely large dog biscuits, he jumped out smiling, and leapt up to the trees, disappearing from sight.

"What's wrong with him now?" Kiba jumped up, trying to follow his dog, leaving Shino and Hinata to watch the remainder of the battle.

The dust had finally settled, revealing all the needles had not hit the target, but actually it hit a shell of sand that had surrounded the redhead. The things that happened next all went so fast, that know one really thought it could have happened. The Rain Ninja ran after his opponent, but was then stopped by even more sand, which continued to enveloped around the rain ninja, and finally, crushed the life out of him. When the fight was over, the remaining Rain ran away in fear, followed by the three sand ninja, who had never moved from their spots during the battle.

A minute after sitting behind their bush, Hinata and Shino stood up, noticing that their third team mate had not returned from his search. The two went off to go search for their friend, while as for Kiba, he was just about to find his dog.

"Shoo, shoo. Dang it dog, you'll blow my cover." Chichi was squatting down on a high branch, trying to get rid of this dog that just came from nowhere. Akamaru however, didn't want to leave, as he went over to Chichi's side and rubbed his head against his leg, trying to look cute. "Dang you dogs and being so dang cute." the ninja picked up Akamaru and began petting him.

"Hey! What are you doing with Akamaru?" a yell was heard from below. Chichi looked down to see a shinobi who had large canines and slits for pupils.

"This your dog?" Chichi pointed to Akamaru, who was barking at Kiba, showing that he was alright. "Here you go." letting the dog go, Akamaru jumped into his masters hands yipping at Chichi in content.

"Who are you?" Kiba asked, relieved that he found his dog.

Chichi was about to respond, when he looked up into the distance sensing another presence coming. "Sorry, I gotta go." with that, he left the scene as Kiba's team mates had arrived a few seconds later.

"Is Akamaru alright, Kiba?" Hinata asked, a bit concerned.

"Yeah, he's all right. A ninja found him and gave him back."

"And they didn't attack you or try to take Akamaru hostage?" Shino, finally speaking with a raised eyebrow.

"No, he was...petting him, and Akamaru really didn't mind at all."

"I didn't know Akamaru took to strangers like that." Shino replied.

"I don't even know how Akamaru found that guy." A thought ran through Kiba's mind. "Unless, no that's not possible."

"What isn't possible?" Shino asked.

"Well it's possible that the guys chakra level was higher than that sand ninjas and it was comforting to Akamaru. But no one I have known has that high of a chakra level to reach that far."

All three looked in the direction that the ninja had fled, wondering what could be the cause of the dog's behavior.

* * *

Musuko was walking around through the tree tops, searching for the heaven scroll, but more importantly, food. He had forgotten to eat some breakfast, and tried to find something edible within the forest.

After searching for about three more hours, the sun was beginning to set on the day. Now jumping from tree to tree, Musuko was really hungry. But food instantly left his train of thought, when a kunai flew out from nowhere, putting into a fighting stance.

He dodged the flying blade just in time to see it hit a tree behind him. The white haired ninja looked around to see who had thrown it. No one was around, most likely hidden from sight.

"Who's there? Show yourself you coward!" just as he finished talking, three shuriken now shot out from different directions. Musuko jumped into the air to dodge one of the shuriken, and then used the mechanisms attached to his arms as shields to deflect the other two.

"Got anymore? From what I see, one of your team mates has to be lazy as crap!"

"Well, he's got that part right." a kunoichi said to herself.

"And the other is a girl no doubt."

This, of course, made the girl upset and, out of anger, she threw more shuriken at her target. Musuko dodged all of them easily. He then faced the area from where the projectiles came from.

"Gotcha!" Musuko ran straight towards his target.

The female was now scared for her life as the ninja came towards her. She quickly began making hand signs, but was too late as the boy had disappeared from sight. She looked around to see if her target was anywhere to be found, then she found him. Well actually, he found her, and with his arm device pointing straight at the back of her neck.

"Of course, only a blonde would act out in anger. That and a certain pinky. Come on, walk slowly into the opening." Musuko whispered while still being concealed from the Ino's sight. The two walked out of the leaves surrounding the area and onto the branch where Musuko was standing before. "Okay guys come out, I have a hostage!"

"What do we do now, Shikamaru?" a chubby, green-clad ninja asked his pineapple headed teammate.

"This is so troublesome." the lazy ninja then squatted down and put his finger tips together so he could think this through. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and moved his hands to his pouch. "I got it."

Back with Musuko and his hostage, Musuko was waiting impatiently for someone to come out.

"They're not gonna show unless they make a plan." the hostage spoke up.

"So, you guys have a strategist, aye? Well then." he moved his free arm towards a group of leaves, holding his arm up for awhile. "Do you know what these things actually do?" the girl shook her head no with as little movement as possible. "I'll show you."

Musuko then pointed his arm to another group of leaves right in front of him. Out from the device on his arm came out a senbon needle flying though the air at great speeds. The needle landed with a large 'Ouch!' in the leaves.

"Now show yourself!" the hit ninja finally complied and walked out, it was the ninja known as Shikamaru, rubbing his left arm where the needle at cut him.

"Shikamaru, how did he...no one's ever beaten your plans!" the girl shouted out, surprised beyond all belief.

"Don't worry, Ino. He hasn't."

A giant green ball came shooting out from behind the three and was hurtling towards Ino and Musuko.

Turning around just in time, Musuko could only do two things. Say, "Oh crap." and push his hostage out of the way as the ball made a direct hit sending him through the branch and into the ground.

The team of leaf ninja jumped down from their branches and landed around the miniature crater that Musuko had made.

"Told you he hadn't beaten us." Shikamaru said to Ino, as she was looking down at the fallen shinobi.

"Why did he push me out of the way?" Ino asked out loud, she couldn't figure out why he had spared her life and not his own. She suddenly felt an enormous pain on the insides of her knees. Ino screamed out in pain and collapsed onto the ground, holding her knees.

"Ino, are you alright?" Chouji cried out looking at his fallen team mate. Both males realized that the insides of her knees had been struck by needles. Shikmaru and Chouji suddenly felt pain in their knees as well and fell to the ground like Ino did before.

"Now then." Musuko walked out of the brush in front of the three as the Musuko on the ground turned into a log. "Who said that they beat me?" The three downed ninjas winced in pain, "Is no one going to answer." Ino and Chouji gave grimacing looks at the white haired boy, "Okay then, can you at least let me know what scroll you guys have."

"We have an earth scroll, now just take it and be gone!" Ino raged, trying to hold in the pain.

The victor sighed and sat down, crossing his legs. "If any one of you tries to take out the needles or attacks me, I will shoot two needles each into both of your kneecaps. And believe me, that hurts even more." He interlocked his pointer and middle fingers and touched his thumbs with each other to form a hand sign. Closing his eyes, he started to what appeared to be meditating.

Three minutes had passed and the pain was slowly subsiding from the needles, but it still hurt greatly. Not one of the three moved from their spots, for they did not want to be in more pain that they were in already. Musuko opened his eyes and stood up. He walked over behind Ino and knelt down.

"Okay, this is going to sting a bit." Directly after he said it, he pulled out the needle from one of her knees.

Ino shouted out in pain for a moment as Musuko sent his other hand covered in green chakra to the wound, healing her.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm healing you. Now hold still, there's going to be another sting." he pulled out the other needle and also healed that wound.

Standing up, he headed over to Shikamaru. "You're up, lazy." pulling out the two needles and healing the wounds like Ino's and then headed over to Chouji and did the same.

"Why did you do that?" Chouji asked, rubbing his legs.

"Because I knew you guys wouldn't hurt me." the white haired boy smiled, oblivious to the mistake he made.

The three looked at each other and gave each other an evil smirk. Shikamaru then said, "You just broke the first rule of being a ninja; never trust anyone." he then formed a hand sign, "Kagemane no Jutsu!(Shadow Possession Technique)" Shikamaru's shadow jutted out straight towards his target. But the strange thing was that Musuko saw the shadow, but didn't move from his spot, like that red haired ninja earlier.

The shadow reached three feet away from Musuko and instantly changed direction. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes seeing his shadow now going in random directions. After trying several more times to redirect the shadow back to its target, Shikamaru gave up, and his shadow receded.

"What's the matter? Having trouble with your shadow?" Musuko said with a smirk. "Would you like to try any other attacks, or would you like for me to leave you alone?"

"Well, I'll agree on that." Shikamaru said about to walk away, but he was then stopped by Ino grabbing him and dragging him back.

"We're not done yet." Ino shouted, "Chouji, flatten him!" Chouji nodded and began to perform his clan jutsu. Ino would not let this guy go, not after he captured her.

"Baika no Jutsu!(Multi-Size Technique)" Chouji turned once again into a large ball and began rolling in place to gain speed. As soon as he obtained the desired speed, he then shot forward with at an incredible rate directly at Musuko, who still remained where he stood.

Like what happened before with Shikamaru's jutsu, Chouji's ball form just reached three feet away from the target and instantly, POOF, Chouji changed back into his normal form, but this time he was half his original size.

Looking down, Musuko knelt down next to the half pint Chouji, "You're having problems too? Man, this is just a bad day for you and your team." He pointed his contraption at Chouji's head, which caused the small genin to run and hide behind Ino's leg. "Now, if you'd excuse me." pulling away the device, Musuko turned and walked away.

But Ino was not ready to give up just yet. Stepping forward she began forming a hand sign herself. "Shintenshin no-"

"Oh, come on! Did you not just see your two team mates other clan jutsus fail?" This startled the blonde kunoichi, "Now if you want to possess your own mind, be my guest, but if you don't, then just stand there, as I walk away." he turned again and left their sight, but just before that, "Oh, and my brother says that the shadow ninja needs to stop being lazy."

When the shinobi was gone, Chouji went over to his male team mate, "What did he do to our jutsus, Shikamaru?" he asked, glad that he was now back to his original size.

"I don't know." Shikamaru performed his shadow jutsu again and saw that it was now working perfectly. "But whatever he did, it's gone now."

"Who was that ninja?" Ino sounded just as confused as Chouji, as she started listing off the events. "He outsmarted Shikamaru, spares me from attacked by Chouji, healed us from his _own_ attack, he screwed up your jutsus by just standing there, and then he leaves saying I would have possessed myself!?" Ino started pulling at her own hair, "What's going on here?!?"

"Ahh," Shikamaru sighed, while trying to recover from Ino's yelling, "This is so troublesome. Let's just go and find that scroll." still concerned as to what happened, the three leapt out of sight, hoping not to bump into him again.

* * *

Night had fallen upon the forest as Team 8 was setting up for camp. Kiba and Shino had gone to sleep while Hinata and Akamaru were on their shift, looking out for trouble. Since Hinata was the first to watch out, she had some problems sleeping as Akamaru was sitting on her lap in a deep snooze - talk about a loyal companion. Her eyes were about to shut, sending her to dreamland, but then Akamaru's ears shot up, followed by his head.

"Bark! Bark!" the dog jumped of her lap and ran into the bushes. Hinata was now fully awake as this was the second time Akamaru had run away so strangely. She followed close behind the canine, occasionally using her Byakugan when she had lost sight of him.

It didn't take her long to find Kiba's dog next to a tree looking in the opposite direction of her. Releaved that he had stopped, Hinata moved in quietly as not to startle him. "Akamaru, what are you doing?" she asked the pooch as she was about to pick up the dog, when she suddenly heard a sound off in the distance. It wasn't rustling in the bushes or anything like that, but instead it was, music?

Thanks to both Hinata's and Akamaru's curiosity, the two walked closer and closer to the source of the harmonic sound. After awhile, they had reached their destination which was on the edge of a small, open plain lit up by the moonlight. On the other side of the plain rested a male with gray hair and a large set of kunai strapped over his shoulder. But what was most interesting about the sight, was that the male had four of the kunai handles in his mouth and moving them up and down by the use of his fingers, making wonderful music coming out from the various holes.

The song slowly died out as he put away the kunai on his back and also began looking around, possibly sensing a pale eyed intruder. Hinata's eyes widened, thinking that she was now in trouble, she grabbed Akamaru and began to hurry back to her campsite as quickly and quietly as possible.

She was deep in the thicket and a good distance away from the plains. Hinata had thought she had left him behind, when she was then abruptly stopped by the music man himself, jumping out from a tree above and standing in her path to safety. Hinata became frozen in fear, not knowing what this shinobi would do.

"So." said Chichi, crossing his arms. Then he started to smile, "You liked the music?"

"U-um, y-yes, i-it was g-good." Hinata replied, stuttering so much from the fear of death.

Chichi looked down to see the female was holding the same dog he saw earlier with Kiba. "So you're on the dog's team." He put out a hand and petted the dog's head as it growled in pleasure. Hinata felt a sense of security now that she saw the shinobi in front of her not making any violent actions. Then, just as quickly as he arrived, he left; back up into the trees.

Hinata looked around to see no one anymore. Knowing that she was now out of danger, she walked to her campsite. Once again, she heard the music, but faintly in distance, she felt relaxed and secure as she listened to the minuet. However, that was all to change fairly quickly, as three unknown ninja dropped down from the trees.

"Well, well. Look what we have here." said one of them. It was too dark to see their faces, let alone what village they were from. "A cute little girl, walking her dog out in the woods at night. Don't you know that it's dangerous out here in the dark?" One of the ninja approached the girl from behind and pulled her arms back, rendering her useless. Akamaru was dropped to the ground and began barking at the three ninja, but was silenced by a ninja to the side, kicking him into a tree.

"Now then, let's have fun, shall we?" Hinata used all her strength to get out of the hold, but it was not enough as the ninja behind her was physically stronger. A ninja in front of her pulled out a kunai and began to stroke the blade along her cheek bone. It then went slowly down her neck, along her collar bone, and finally made its way to the opening in her jacket. Hinata turned her head away from the sight and started crying, now that she saw what was happening to her. "Aw, the little girl's crying." the three laughed at the sight, as the kunai began cutting into the clothing.

"No. Stop!" she shouted out, hoping someone would come.

"Heh heh he-Ugh!" a small shout from the side viewer ninja was heard as he fell face down on the ground. The two other ninja seized what they were doing and looked at their team mate. On his back was a kunai imbedded in his spine. He was dead. The ninja with the kunai got into a fighting stance awaiting the next attack, while the other pulled out his own kunai and placed it against Hinata's throat, using her as a hostage.

"You know," a voice said from above. The figure dropped down from the trees, revealing it was the same gray haired ninja from the plain. "It's not nice to be violating a lady. Especially one that is quite as lovely." Hinata was blushing at the comment but not enough to be seen by anyone, considering it was night time.

The free ninja then shot a kunai right at Chichi's face, which he had easily dodged by bending backwards, but when he was rising, the ninja threw another kunai so it would impale his face when he stood. However, Chichi quicly threw up an arm, without even thinking, and caught the flying kunai by the handle. With the same motion that he caught the kunai with, Chichi shot it into the face of the ninja holding Hinata. Now being free, she rushed over to aid Akamaru.

Meanwhile, Chichi walked over to the dead ninja with the kunai stuck in his back and pulled it out, washing the blood off of it. "Now, would you like to be next?" still wiping away the blood, while looking at the one remaining ninja.

The ninja backed slowly, tripping on a root sticking out of the ground and falling on his back. With fear instilled into him, he ran for his life into the woods, like a little child.

"I love it when they run. It means I don't have to kill them." Chichi placed the kunai he had been cleaning on his pack and turned towards the startled Hyuuga. "You alright, umm, I didn't catch your name from our last bump-in."

The Hyuuga, with doggy in hand, replied in a stutter, and still blushing, "H-Hyuuga H-Hinata."

"Hinata. Well, Hinata, are you okay?" she nodded silently with despair in her face. She then felt a hand placed on her shoulder. "It's okay, nothing too bad happened. You still have your clothes on and by the looks of it, your friend's dog is alright." Picking up the injured Akamaru from Hinata's hands, he began walking towards Hinata's camp. Stopping a few feet later, Chichi turned around, looking at Hinata, "Well, are you coming?" Hinata looked up, seeing her hero with a smile that almost looked like Naruto's foxy grin. She ran up next to Chichi and also walked to the camp.

After awhile, the two ninja saw a small fire, which meant that they were close to camp. "This is as far as I go, so here's the dog, and may your team make it to the tower in one piece." The gray haired shinobi placed Akamaru in her arms and left with a small salute.

Hinata walked into sight of the camp, seeing both Kiba and Shino were still asleep. Walking further, she stepped on a stick, awakening Kiba's canine hearing and shooting him out of his bed.

"Hinata. What are you doing over there?"

"A-Akamaru ran away. S-So I went and g-got him."

"Again? Well, thank you for getting him back." Kiba looked up into the night sky "I suppose it's now my shift. You have a nice sleep, okay?" Kiba got out of his bag and took watch on a nearby boulder as Hinata went into her own sleeping bag.

"Goodnight Kiba."

"Night, Hinata." Kiba went on his watch with his trusted companion sleeping on his lap.

So many things were now running through Hinata's mind as she tried to sleep. '_Did everything really just happen tonight? Who was that shinobi? Why did he save me? How did he save me? And why....why do I feel something strange inside of me?__'_ All these thoughts were suddenly eased away when Hinata heard a faint but familiar sound ringing in her ears. It was the music that the ninja played before in the opening. Now feeling relaxed by the sonnets of the night, she went straight to sleep, and Akamaru slept with a doggy grin.

* * *

The first day of the Forest Of Death has past, what waits in store for our ninjas tomorrow. We'll just have to find out in the next chapter.

Reviews are always appreciated so do not hesitate to give out some. I'm out.


	4. Forest p2

The fourth chapter of **Sky Ninja** has finally been posted. Sorry for those who have been waiting, I've had a lot of stuff going on in my life now.

This chapter is dedicated to: _The Dragon Blood Guard, Angelfallen, Magnus1111, and Sailorgirl772_ for setting this story as their favorites or alert story.

Chapter 4 Redone

And without further to do, on with the chapter.

* * *

Daytime arrived in the Forest of Death, as the second day for the genin teams began.

Team 7 had awoken from their sleep to continue their search for a heaven scroll, which they needed to continue on in the exams.

"Come on you two, we need to get going if we want to get that scroll." an agitated Sakura said, being the only one who was up and ready while Sasuke and Naruto were still in their beds. The two male shinobi simply asked for another five minutes, but that didn't settle too well with Sakura. "You two will get out of bed in five seconds..." small tightening of the fists, "Or I will get you out myself. And believe me, you're gonna have two friends missing when I'm done."

So Naruto and Sasuke were now in the woods before another breathe could be made, worrying for their two friends. Sakura gave a little smirk and followed behind them, making sure they didn't lag off.

As the three shinobi leapt from branch to branch, Naruto took a glance behind him to see Sakura in an extremely pissed-off mood. Frightened that he eyes would meet with him, Naruto quickly turned back to his front.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto asked his Uchiha team mate.

"Yeah dobe?" he replied the usual way.

"Did you notice Sakura is a bit more...forceful than usual." Sasuke also took a glance back to see the angry face that the pink haired kinouchi was wearing. His eyes met with Sakura's, and instantly, he turned back a bit nervous.

Quickly returning to his old self, "So? What of it? It just means that she's getting tougher. Which probably means that she's finally stopped gawking over me." smirking at the thought of one less fan girl in his life. His smirk left quickly when he sensed something amiss. "Everyone stop!" the three reacted quickly by landing on a branch in a crouching position.

"What is it Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Someone is near." The three began looking around, wondering who, or what, it could have been.

* * *

(Hokages Tower)

"So you all have nothing on the subject at hand." spoke the Third Hokage, seated at his desk. All the leaf jounin that were apart of the exams, or were teachers of shinobi teams, were present to discuss about a certain group of ninja.

"No Hokage." spoke up Asuma, teacher of team 10, "We never heard of these, 'Sky Ninja' or even a village of that matter." the Hokage was not satisfied with this answer.

"Nothing? Not one of you have heard anything related to this Sky Village? Myths? Legends? Rumors?" No one answered, "Has anyone at least seen them before the exams, or even how they fight?"

"All of our students had seen them before during the first part of the chunin exams," said Gai, the well known green beast of Konoha. The Hokage was glad that they were finally getting somewhere. "My students reported that these three had easily bypassed a genjutsu that they themselves did not notice, aside from Neji. Also, Neji said that one of them said something about himself. The ninja was absolutely correct, even though he never even met Neji in his life."

"Well then, it appears that one of these shinobi can read people very well, or has a good source of information." Anko looked down to the floor as she heard that statement. "Anyone else had their students report to them?"

"Yes sir." Asuma raised his hand, "Ino said that one of them gave her and Shikamaru some sort of advice on their fighting. Like for example, telling Shikamaru to stop being lazy."

The Hokage merely smiled at this, knowing just how unmotivated that shinobi was.

"Sakura told me of one as well." Kakashi walked up to show himself, "She said that one of them had encountered them and was acting rude, and writing stuff in some notebook about 'first impressions', which from what I heard about these impressions, they pretty much hit them on the nail." everyone either smiled or looked astonished by this ninja's feat. "And I myself had encountered one of them in the village." everyone was now listening intently as to what Kakashi had to say, for none of them had seen them yet. "The shinobi was reading a book like myself at the time."

"Please, tell me it wasn't the same book." Kurenai said, rubbing the bridge of her nose now.

"No. In fact, when I looked in the book, it had no pictures. Instead there were markings all over the pages, I couldn't read it at all, but it seemed that he could perfectly." he adjusted his forehead protector as he watched the Hokage put all this information into his mind.

"Does anyone else have anything to say about these three mystery ninja?" the Hokage looked around seeing no one reacting. "Very well then, if your teams reach the tower with the needed scrolls, please have them report to you and then report to me. We need to find out if these ninja are friends or foes to Konoha. You are dismissed."

All jounin began exiting out of the office when the Hokage called out, "Anko." the snake jounin turned to her name, "I need to see you for a moment." she nodded and remained in the office as everyone else left.

After the door had shut, the hokage placed another silence jutsu upon the room. "The ninja that seemed to have read Neji perfectly, he read you too, didn't he?" a long paused was set between the two, but Anko broke in a worried tone.

"He knew about him, Hokage. He even knew what kind of jutsu I could use. If-If I had let him write more, he would have probably had my life story down." Anko, the most toughest female jounin in Konoha, almost broke out into tears.

"Anko." The Hokage stood up and walk over to said female, "I know you're still trying to recover from it, and I know I can't experience your pain, but I need you to be in control of yourself. These ninja could use that information against you if they are enemies. Also, I'd like you to keep close watches on our teams that had encountered these ninja." Anko bowed down in understanding "That is all Anko, you are dismissed." and with that, the snake user left the office.

Now the Hokage was back to the greatest foe every kage had to deal with; paperwork.

* * *

(Back in the Forest of Death, Team 7)

Team 7 were looking around to see if they could find their unexpected visitor, but saw no one. Just then, a kunai shot out from the trees directed straight at Sasuke. The targeted shinobi easily jumped the attack, landing on a higher branch. Another came shooting at him, making him jump to yet another branch that was higher, separating the Uchiha from his team.

When Sasuke landed, the hidden attacker then revealed itself, landing on the same branch as Sasuke. From the symbol on the ninja's headband, he was from the Grass Village.

Naruto and Sakura both saw the ninja and were about to head up to aid their teammate when something slimy latched onto their legs. The two looked down to see two forked tongues wrapped around their legs and were pulling them downward. Sasuke moved his attention to his team mates to see them being pulled down.

About to go down to help them out, the grass ninja leapt into Sasuke's way, "Now now, we should give them something to keep them busy too, don't you think?" the grass ninja said with a devilish smile. Sasuke merely smirked and pulled out his own kunai, and engaged the grass ninja in combat.

Naruto was now descending to the forest floor along with Sakura, and saw where the of them were heading; into a snake's mouth.

"Naruto, catch!" Naruto looked over to see Sakura throw up a kunai tied to some string. The kunai flew over a thick branch above and dropped down to where Naruto could grab it. As Naruto grabbed onto the kunai, he and Sakura had both stopped falling, but that didn't stop the snakes from ascending themselves.

"What do we do now?" asked Naruto. Before Sakura or Naruto could have thought of a way to escape, the snakes had stopped advancing, about two feet away from their legs. "What the?" down on the forest floor, another ninja had both his arms latched onto the tails of the snakes, keeping the serpents from getting their meal.

"No food for you guys today." the ninja walked a few steps over to a large root that had grown out from the ground. He placed the tails underneath the root and began tying them together. This made sure the two large snakes could not reach the two dangling ninjas. Once the tails were tied down, the ninja disappeared into the woods leaving Naruto and Sakura still hanging from a kunai and string with the snakes still pulling on their legs.

Sasuke was barely keeping grounds with the grass ninja in their taijutsu match, as the grass ninja easily avoided Sasukes kicks and jabs as if they were nothing to him. The two were now near the trunk of the enormous tree, Sasuke continued to swing his limbs at the ninja but this time like a crazy lunatic, not having any strategic form at all. The grass ninja as usual dodged the attacks, but once Sasuke stopped, the Uchiha revealed another one of his smirks. Pulling his index finger back, the grass ninja was flung back into the trunk of the tree elevated from the branch.

The grass ninja looked around himself to see that he had been tied up by wire thrown around the tree while Sasuke had been swinging around like a lunatic. "Clever Sasuke." the ninja said under his breathe and with a smile.

Wires were wrapped around the raven haired shinobi's fingers and still holding his smirk on his face. Moving his hands around, Sasuke performed what he believed to be the final attack of the battle.

"Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!(Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)" Sasuke shot out a stream of fire onto all his attached threads and had them leading straight for the ensnared grass ninja. When the flames reached the ninja, a cry of pain was heard from the flames.

Naruto and Sakura could not hold out much longer as the snakes were still trying to pull in their lunch.

"So you guys need any help?" the two looked up to the branch where there string was hanging from to see the same ninja who had tied up the snakes just moments ago, Seirei, with a kunai in each hand.

"You!" Sakura cried out in anger, "You left just tying the snakes down on a root!" Seirei let out a sigh and spoke again.

"Listen. I've got three options on my hands. One: cut this here thread and have you fall to your dooms. Two: throw these kunai at you to shut you up and give the snakes a little snack. And three: kill the snakes before they can eat you. Which one do you guys-"

"THREE!" the two dangling shinobi shouted simultaneously.

"I thought so." With that, Seirei then threw his kunai into the heads of the snakes, instantly killing them and allowing Naruto and Sakura to dangle freely. "Now if you'll excuse me, your friend is in need of assistance." he shot himself up one branch to another trying to reach Sasuke in time.

"What are you?" was all Sasuke could say as he saw the burnt flesh peeling off of the grass ninja's face to reveal yet another face.

"What am I, you ask." tearing away the rest of his peeling skin to show a white faced man with purple stripes along his nose. "I'm the one who is going to give you power." Sasuke instantly froze as he was sent into another world.

The world he was in was all in one color, blood red. He began seeing himself, an out of body experience, in the same position as before. Then all of a sudden the grass ninja ran towards him with incredible speeds and chopped off his right arm with a swing of a kunai. Next was his left arm flying into the air, blood spewing everywhere. Finally, the ninja plunged the very kunai which just dismembered Sasuke's two arms into his forehead, officially stopping the screams of pain and killing him.

As the raven haired ninja was watching this, he felt this horrible pain in the left of his neck. Instantly, Sasuke was drawn out of the bloodshed world and back into reality only to find the strange man's body in the same place, except for his head. His neck had extended the ninja's head right to Sasuke's neck, where the head had sunk its fangs into the Uchiha's neck.

Sasuke tried to free himself, but the attempt was useless. When Sasuke thought he was sure to die, the head was suddenly thrown back, releasing Sasuke, as the body fell off the branch and plummeting to the forest floor. But once the grass ninja's head had left Sasuke's neck, 2 tomoes and one dot formed where the bite had been placed.

Back where the grass ninja had been standing, Seirei was now, and with a clenched fist looking down to the floor. The unknown grass ninja had landed safely on his back and with a possible broken arm, but that didn't stop him from getting back up and leaving the area.

Seirei ran over to the now collapsed Sasuke and rolled him over to his stomach to see the mark that was made on the back of his neck. He pulled out his book and began reading it, "I was too late." Putting back the book, he picked up Sasuke and flung him over his shoulder.

Sakura and Naruto arrived at the scene to see their rescuer holding their teammate, who was out cold. "What happened?" Sakura asked with concern in her voice, but then quickly changed to rage, "If you had caused any harm to him, I swear I'll-" she was quickly cut off by Seirei.

"That ninja got him before I could get here. He will be alright, he just needs to rest for awhile. Find someplace safe because right now, you two are at a disadvantage if another team shows up." he stood up and began walking away from the team.

"Hold it! You're just gonna leave us?" the blonde questioned.

"Yeah." he vanished.

Sakura looked at Naruto wondering what to do next. Naruto simply picked Sasuke up onto his shoulders and nudged his head to have Sakura follow.

* * *

(Team 8)

Kiba, Hinata, and Shino were like other ninja in the forest; searching for their scroll to pass the exams.

"So, what happened again last night?" Kiba asked, trying to sum up the story that Hinata told him and Shino over breakfast that morning.

Hinata repeated, "A-Akamaru ran o-off into the woods, and w-when I found him, s-so did another ninja. He-He had gray hair and ku-kunai along his left shoulder. He-He didn't try to fight me, he-he simply... gave back Akamaru. When I was coming back, a group of ni-ninja appeared and a-almost k-killed m-me." pausing for a second remembering what they would have done to her. "B-but then he showed up again and s-saved me with just a few simple moves."

"Hmph." Kiba, not enjoying how quickly this shinobi defeated three ninja all by himself. "Sounds like those ninja you met up with were weak by a long shot. If I was there, me and Akamaru would have slaughtered them in seconds." showing his canine teeth to his team mates, as did Akamaru. Shino just shook his head while Hinata simply smiled.

Just then Akamaru perked up and turned his head to the right. Barking for a few seconds and then jumped out of Kiba's coat into the forest, again.

"Not again. What's with you Akamaru?" the team had no choice but to follow their little canine friend.

A few minutes later, the team finally caught up to the dog as he was sitting on a branch, looking over a clearing in the forest.

"There you are, you crazy dog." Kiba said walking to him, "Come on, we gotta find that scroll." Akamaru responded by walking out of Kiba's grasp and pointing his paw to a spot at the edge of the clearing, faintly barking. Where he was pointing was located a large boulder, half submerged in the earth.

On the stone sat the music player from the night before, Chichi. He was playing on his kunai, not giving a care in the world what was going on around him.

"T-That's him." Hinata whispered. "That's the ninja who s-saved me last night."

"He is?" Kiba looked astonished, pointing at Chichi, "He's the same ninja who found Akamaru when he ran off the first time."

"It appears that our Akamaru seems to be taking a liking to this shinobi." Shino said with no emotion as usual. Akamaru then turned to the other side of the clearing and began to growl.

"What is it boy?" Kiba asked, as three other ninjas jumped out into the clearing.

The ninja were from the rain village, from the looks on their headbands, ready to dispatch of their new found target.

"Heh, well well." said the ninja in the middle, appearing to be the leader of the group, "Looks like we got ourselves a prissy girl ninja here."

"Rondo, he's a guy." one of the other rain ninja whispered.

"I KNOW THAT IDIOT! I was saying it to insult him."

"Oooh. Good one." Chichi ,however, continued to play his kunai, ignoring the three and their stupidity.

"Dude, okay, stop playing that stupid music and get ready to die." the one known as Rondo pulled out from his sheath not a sword, but an axe with blood stains on the blade.

Chichi, now seeing the weapons, stopped his music playing and put down the kunai in his hands.

"You know, you can't really stop music." Chichi said calmly.

"What? What are you talking about?" Rondo lowering his guard, kind of confused.

"You can't stop music, plain as that." placing the kunai back on the string with the others on his back, "Music is everywhere. There's the birds singing in the trees, whales singing in the oceans, wolves howl their song at night to the full moon," a small group of birds started to gather on the trees on Chichi's side of the opening, "Rabbits stomp their feet to their own little beat, bees buzz their own tune," more birds gathered, "And even the tiger cries out its victory song after a kill." The group of birds that started out small, had grown into a massive flock, and they had begun to stare at the rain ninja.

"What's going on man!" Rondo looked at all the birds, who were somehow giving off killer intent of their very own.

"You can't take away music, it's apart of nature." Chichi continued with his speech "If you try to take it away. Nature gets a little ticked off." one of the ninja fell flat on his face. He turned around to see that a giant centipede had latched onto his foot. The centipede pulled him into the darkness of the forest, screaming and clawing at the ground for his freedom.

"And since nature here is basically three times larger here than it is elsewhere." a tiger, six times the size of the gray haired shinobi himself, appeared out of the forest behind Chichi, glaring at the remaining rain ninja. And to make matters worst, the tiger looked hungry, "I suggest you don't tick it off."

The two rain ninja now frozen with fear started to sweat seeing almost all the wildlife appear around the clearing, ready to have a little snack.

"Umm, guys." Chichi got the two Rain ninjas attention, as he was now leaning on one of his knees, "This is the part where you run away." the tiger then released a bone-chilling roar, which gave them the motivation to high tail it out of there.

Chichi gave a smirk of victory and stood up from his seating place. Walking over to the giant tiger, he began to pet the large beast as it purred like a little kitten.

Of course Team 8 was watching all of this, and they were now pale faced with their mouths opened wide at what they just saw.

"H-h-how did he get all of those animals." Kiba pointed to the leaving creatures still pale faced.

A scream was then heard from a small distance away from the clearing. Out from the woods came a large spider with Rondo tied up in webbing on the back of the arachnid.

"Oh, I almost forgot something." Chichi walked up to the spider, who had in its fangs, a heaven scroll which belonged to the team of rain ninjas. "Thank you very much." Chichi said politely, with a smile, "Now release him and let him run away like a, 'prissy girl ninja'." the spider released the ninja and watched as he fled once again into the forest. Chichi gave out a chuckle at the sight.

Placing the scroll in his pocket, Chichi dismissed the spider and started to fill his sack with food and plants.

"What do we do now?" Hinata asked.

"Well for one thing, if he can get animals to fight on his side like that, I suggest we either do one of the two. Leave now, or possibly form an alliance with him." Shino replied still looking at the ninja, thinking.

"I think that the ninja has already decided that for us." Kiba said in a serious tone. A few drops of sweat came down his face.

"Why do you say that, Kiba?" Hinata questioned, only to be responded by a web trapping her and her team mates.

The three were then dragged by the large spider that had just recently left the music shinobi, heading straight into the clearing. When they reached the rock Chichi was sitting on, he was just finishing up packing.

"Thank you for your help once again. You may leave now." Chichi said to the spider, tossing the arachnid a large beetle. And with that, the spider released the threads that held Team 8 to it and crawled back into the forest to search for more prey.

"So how is that we keep on bumping into each other?" Chichi asked the team as if looking for an answer. L

Looking at Shino, "You. I haven't seen you yet."

"That's probably because I like to keep my distance."

"Ah, does that mean you're a long-ranged fighter then? Or you really just like to keep your distance?" Shino did not answer. Chichi let out a long sigh and pulled out his kunai. He started cutting away the web cocoons encasing them.

After he released Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata, Shino was all who was left. Once Chichi tore open the cocoon imprisoning Shino, a barrage of tiny insects flew out and shot Chichi across the clearing.

Chichi wiped his mouth to see some blood on his lip. "Not the smartest idea, bug boy. And so I ask you, why are you trying to attack me?"

Shino replied "You encountered my other two team mates and did not attack them, meaning that you have shown trust, and therefore, wouldn't attack me. I sensed the spider approaching us easily, but I allowed it to capture me and my team mates so we can get to you quickly and with no fuss. Also, so I could find out if you have the scroll that we're looking for. You have the scroll, and I intend to acquire it. However, the hit from my insects should have knocked you out from how close you were."

Chichi placed his hand on his forehead like he had a headache, and smiled, "Is that all? You wanted the scroll?" chuckling a bit, "You know, you could have tried a better way than just a surprise attack. Just, don't think too hard on it."

A long silence set between the two sides of the field, as Team 8 tried to find a way to get the scroll from Chichi. It took a good 5 to 8 minutes of extensive planning, but they may have gotten the perfect plan... maybe.

Hinata walked slowly up to Chichi with a blush all over her face. When she reached him, she put out her open hand and tried to speak not looking him in the eye.

"C-could w-we have the scroll p-please?"

"Sure. Here you go." just like that, he plopped the scroll into Hinata's hand and disappeared into the woods behind him.

Silence fell once again as the entire team was dumbfounded for a second time on the same day. They had just watched one ninja take out three enemy ninja without even moving from his seat, retrieving their scroll, and just like that, gave it away with only a simple and polite question. But the shinobi didn't have time to think about it for now. They had their second scroll, and needed to get to the tower ASAP.

* * *

(Team Gai)

The group of Tenten, Neji, and Lee had rejoined back together after a full 24 hours of splitting up, but all three with no scroll.

"So we haven't been able to find a second scroll. Very well then, we have another day to achieve the goal. Let's move out." ordered Neji.

The three shot up into the trees above them and moved in one direction seeing if they could find anyone with their needed scroll. Using his Byakugan, Neji found a lonely shinobi sleeping on the ground. Neji smirked at the sight, seeing it being easy picking and deactivated his Byakugan.

"Follow me. I've found something." Lee and Tenten nodded and followed their gray-eyed teammate.

When they reached their destination, they found a slumbering ninja that was very familiar in Neji's eyes, Musuko. Neji could not believe that the boy was lying on the ground asleep and completely alone. He was still angry from the first part of the Chunin exams when Musuko just opened him up like a book, and he swore he would get him back for it.

Neji, out of the act of vengence, rushed towards the sleeping shinobi, but a kunai from behind landed in front of his feet to stop his pursuit.

"Neji! What do you think you're doing?" Tenten whispered, not to wake up the ninja.

"Tenten's right." Lee said "This is too easy for any shinobi to do. Even you should know there has to be a trap of some sort." Neji narrowed his eyes and realized this as well.

Coming back to his senses, he activated his Byakugan once more to find any traps. "His gauntlets have senbon needles in them," Neji reported his sightings, "But it's not completely full."

"That's probably because he got caught in a fight." Tenten explained, "Now he's resting."

"No, it's worst than that." moving his eyes around the forest floor "The needles are his trap. They are placed all over the area and hidden very well, even I couldn't have found them without the Byakugan."

"Can you find any openings Neji?" Tenten asked, slightly worried.

"That's what makes this even harder, Tenten. I can't. Not even an opening that could fit a fly through. The only place that's safe in the area is right where he is sleeping."

Both Tenten and Lee now narrowed their eyes at the elaborate trap that this shinobi had conjured up, just to protect himself. Tenten, even though fearful a bit, was also impressed by Musuko's use of his own weapons.

"I guess, we have to find some place else for our scroll." Tenten leapt up back into the tree tops awaiting her teammates to follow.

"That ninja's flames of youth burns brightly! Even when he's asleep!" Rock Lee also jumped up to the treetops.

Neji remained down on the floor with his Byakugan still active. He would not leave until he had found an opening.

"Neji come on." Tenten urged her teammate to come with them.

"Wait! I think...I think I found an opening." Neji said, looking closer, "I have! It's right...right."

"Right here." Team Gai looked down to the sleeping ninja, who now was barely awake and with his right gauntlet pointed directly at Neji's head. The opening that Neji had found seemed to be a perfect tunnel for one of Musuko's needles to fly through and strike Neji. In a tired voice, Musuko gave his warning, "Please leave me be. I'm trying to get my rest." Musuko put down his gauntlet and closed his eyes again.

Neji remained on the floor now frozen in surprise and fear. He had been out done.

"Neji get out of there now!" Tenten said abruptly. Neji slowly stepped back away from Musuko.

As he did, his Byakugan saw that the needles were moving, as well as the opening. The opening continued to redirect itself to make sure it was pointing at Neji's head.

'_This ninja is seriously skilled.'_ he jumped into the trees _'Far too skilled to still be a genin.' _Watching a smirk crawl onto Musuko's sleeping face, Neji became even angrier at the shinobi.

* * *

(Team 7)

Naruto and Sakura had found a place to rest finally, underneath a raised trunk of a tree. It provided shelter and a place to hide. Naruto set down the unconscious Sasuke on a bed of moss which Sakura gathered around for him.

"Man, Sasuke is really heavy." Naruto said rubbing the back of his neck. With Sasuke incapacitated, Naruto and Sakura would have a hard time dealing with another team, the odds being two against three. So to remain safe, they made sure they left their hiding spot only when necessary, and acquired food and drink to last the night.

Night did eventually descended onto the forest again. A fire had been made to keep the team warm and give them light. Naruto and Sakura were around the fire, while Sasuke was still unconscious on the moss bed.

Naruto looked up form the fire to see Sakura with an emotionless face staring at the dancing flames in front of her.

"Umm, Sakura." the kunoichi looked at him sternly with anger in her eyes. Naruto was taken aback at the evil stare.

"What?" Sakura sounded a bit irked.

"Why are you so angry now. I mean, before the forest you were all happy and falling over yourself for Sasuke." this got him an even angrier stare from Sakura, "No offense, but it's true." Sakura looked back into the flames, "Well anyways, you're now all uptight and just this morning you were ready to destroy your team mates' future families. What's with the big change?"

Sakura now had a saddened look and also staring at the ground. Naruto figured this was a good time to try and comfort his kunoichi partner, as he scooted over to her side.

About to place a hand on her shoulder, "What happen-" Naruto was cut short by a rustling in the distance.

Both shinobi shot their heads up to see what the noise was. In the distance, the rustling noise was heard again. The two of them went over to the entrance of their hiding space to find out what it was. Out from some bushes in the distance, came a squirrel running frantically towards them. Naruto let down his guard seeing that it was just a harmless creature, but Sakura threw a kunai that landed mere centimeters from the rodent's face. The squirrel was so frightened that it ran off in another direction.

"What did you do that for?" Naruto asked, but was silenced when Sakura slapped her hand onto his mouth to make him quiet. Her eyes kept focus on the area where the noise first came from.

Now holding another kunai in hand, "The squirrel had an explosion tag on it. If it got any closer to us, we'd be finished." Sakura lowered her hand from Naruto mouth to let him breathe, now knowing that he would be quiet.

Once she did, three sound ninja slowly walked out of the brush and looked at their new targets. The ninja on the left was a male who had holes in his hands, the middle possessed a metallic device on his right hand and his face was covered in bandages, and the ninja on the right was a kuniochi with bells at her sides.

"So this is the team that we're after, aye Dosu?" said the left ninja.

"Yes. It seems that one of their team mates is at the moment incapable of fighting." the mummified shinobi spoke.

"This is going to be too easy." smiled the female of the sound group.

The three readied to attack Naruto and Sakura who were at a disadvantage, but that didn't stop them to prepare for a fight.

"This will be interesting." Seirei said from a far off branch that was looking over the area. He grabbed onto the handle of his enormous sword and waited for the right time to strike.

* * *

**Well, it seems that both Naruto and Sakura are both going up against the sound team. How do you guys think this will end? You'll have to find out by reading my next chapter when it comes out.**

**As always, reviews are an extremely wanted thing for my stories, so please review.**


	5. Forest p3

I've finished the fifth chapter to **Sky Ninja** and I'm kinda disappointed in both myself and the story.

I mean honestly, I've put up five chapters and I haven't gotten a single review. I know that they are not necessary, but I always love to see what my readers think about my work. So please read and review.

**disclaimer: don't own naruto, but i do own an ipod that can hold naruto music, is that the same?**

* * *

We find Team 7 with one of their teammates out cold and the other two up against three sound ninja in the middle of the night. Also, another shinobi is watching from afar reading from his book with a smile.

"This is going to be interesting." the shinobi, Seirei, said to himself.

Down on the forest floor we return to the upcoming battle.

"So, which one of you wants to die first?" the ninja with the metal device on his arm asked with a polite, yet mocking tone.

Naruto of course didn't wait for an answer, but instead went running straight at the sound ninja with kunai in hand. "I'm not dying today you creep!"

Zaku, the shinobi with the holes in his hands, looks on at the oncoming blonde with the utmost confidence. "Heh. This guy's mine."

"Go right ahead." the one known as Dosu said, "I'll just have fun with the girl then."

The metal armed ninja moved to the side to make sure he had a clear path at Sakura and headed straight at her. Zaku stood his ground as Naruto jumped into the air ready to plunge his kunai into his opponent. Zaku simply raised up one of his hands and out came a burst of air and sound heading straight for Naruto. The attack hit Naruto squared in the chest and he went flying into a tree knocking the wind out of him, temporarily.

"This is too easy." just then, Naruto turned into a puff of smoke. Zaku's eyes narrowed as he then saw four more Narutos jump up from the brush. "They've been waiting for us?"

"You got it." Sakura said cutting away at a string next to her.

The results were tremendous. A large pit appeared in front of the mummified shinobi coming after her. Lucky for him, he noticed the trap just in time to leap over it, but unlucky for him was the giant log that appeared from the tops swinging down right at him.

"Dosu!" Zaku cried out seeing the trap that his teammate fell into. He let out another air attack from his hands to puff out three of the clones, but he couldn't get the fourth one as it came through with a fist into Zaku's face.

Dosu, who was heading straight for a log, flicked the device on his arm, which miraculously had then shattered the log into a thousand splinters. Landing safely in front of Sakura, Dosu was not ready for the fist to come at him, especially since it wasn't from the kunoichi.

Sakura was also surprised, because she was stunned that the ninja could break through her trap so easily. The punch that was delivered to Dosu was from the bushy eyebrowed ninja Rock Lee. He seemed to have gone ahead of his team to scout out for any scroll holders still in the forest.

"Just who the heck are you?" Dosu said rubbing the side of his face.

"I am your opponent." Lee moves into his usual fighting stance.

"Well, then. You'll be the first to die then." Dosu came at Lee with his fist in the air. But before he could reach the green shinobi, he vanished.

Dosu stopped and looked around for his opponent. Turns out that his opponent found him. A foot appeared below Dosu's jaw, seemingly coming from nowhere, and sent Dosu up into the air. When he landed, Lee was back in his stance awaiting the next move.

He got back onto his feet moving his jaw back and forth. "So. You're fast." he pursued Lee again but this time with a different approach as he appeared behind Lee.

Lee also reacted by performing a spinning kick that made contact with Dosu's metal arm. Right after the contact, Lee fell down to his knees holding onto his ears and began vomiting afterwards.

"Like I said, you're fast. But not as fast as sound. You see, this device here allows me to amplify sound waves. By using my chakra, I can direct those sound waves to where ever I want, which would be the inner part of your ear."

Sakura was astonished by the actions that had just occurred in front of her, Dosu was confident that his victory was in sight, Zaku was still having difficulty with Naruto and his clones, and Seirei continued to watch on.

But that all changed when Lee began standing up again with minor shaking in his limbs.

"I'm surprised you can still stand." raising his fist once more "But that's about to change." he swung his fist at the now standing Lee, who blocked the blow with his arm. However, the blow came from his metal arm again.

The outcome was the same but now with greater results. Lee couldn't help but empty what was left in his stomach and then collapsing to the ground, too weak to get back up.

A hand grabbed Lee from the collar of his shirt and threw him off into the distance. Dosu then directed his attention back to Sakura. The pink haired ninja remained shocked by how fast Lee had fell even though he was a master at taijutsu. Anger was boiling up in her, but even more than that was fear. As Dosu neared her, she began to remember what had happened to her that night after the first day of the exams.

* * *

(Flashback)

Sakura was walking back from the store with her mother's groceries that she sent her out to get. Almost halfway to her house, she takes the shortcut through the park, which she always thought was scary in the dark as a child.

Walking along the pathway, small noises were being made by scurrying critters off in the bushes. A squirrel then all of a sudden ran out from one of the bushes and ran right by Sakura's feet. Sakura let out a small yelp at the sudden sight of the squirrel, and dropped her groceries. When the little rodent left out of sight, Sakura got angry with the dropped groceries and started to punch a tree, chipping away at splinters.

Still pounding away at the tree, she heard a mysterious voice coming from somewhere.

"Still attacking in anger now are you?" out from the shadows came out the person who had just left Sasuke standing still just hours ago that same day. Musuko.

"You're about to get some of it too for freaking Sasuke-kun like that." her fist came flying at the sky ninja who, like before, caught it in his hand.

"I told you not to attack in anger. Not to mention that you need to take the role of ninja more seriously."

"I do take it seriously!" she throws over her other fist which was caught by the same hand now holding both fists.

"Then why did you faint during the bell test?" Sakura looked straight into Musuko's eyes.

"H-how do you know about that?" her knees shaking now in fear of her life.

"Oh believe me, I know more than that." Musuko applied pressure to her hands and forced her to fall down to her knees. "You are weak. I'm sorry to be blunt but you just don't have the strength to be a shinobi." Musuko too kneels down to her eye level. But when he did, Sakura was in tears.

* * *

(End Flashback)

Without any warning Sakura was kicked down to the ground from behind, forcing her out of her flashback. Kin, who had been missing in action for the moment, had attacked Sakura from behind and grabbed her hair to keep her on the ground, as well as a foot on her back.

"Looks like the little princess was in dream land. Thinking that your knight would come to save you?" Kin said insultingly.

An orange body came flying through the air crashing into a tree and falling straight to the ground in a weakened state. Naruto was breathing heavily after being struck by a second sound wave from Zaku as he lay there. He was then lifted up along the tree trunk by the very same ninja that had sent him to the ground.

"You annoying little squirt!" Zaku started punching Naruto in the gut with his free hand.

All around, Team 7 and Lee had been taken down. All Sakura could do was watch Naruto get beaten up, see Lee lie motionless on the ground, and remember.

* * *

(Flashback, return)

"Please, let me go."

"That's just it. If I was an enemy ninja, I wouldn't. I would rather kill you, if not worse." he then placed his hands over Sakura's eyes for a short moment. When they were removed, Musuko was gone, and she was standing in the middle of woods unknown to her.

She began walking through these mysterious woods in search for anything. Finally, she came to a spot that she wished she never had found. Ever.

In the distance, a tall black figure, had her two team mates Naruto and Sasuke hanging from a tree by their hands and were being brutally beaten. Blood coming from their noses and mouths and both in immense pain.

"Stop it!" Sakura cried out. The black figure turned around to the source of the noise. After seeing the pink haired female, it turned back to its victim and beating them. "I said stop it!"

Sakura ran towards the figure with rage, anger, and hate, wanting to kill the figure for what it had been doing. But that fit of rage was stopped short by her being close lined by an arm, belonging to a familiar ninja.

Down on her back, she continued to cry as she saw that it was none other than Musuko who had brought her down and stopped her from saving her teammates.

"Why? Why are you letting this happen?" tears pouring out from her eyes now. She stood up and landed her head onto Musuko, "WHY!" she began pounding on Musuko's chest with what strength she had left in her.

Musuko could feeling the crying and tears running down his shirt, and yet he showed no pity for the girl.

"Stop your crying. I did this to teach you a lesson." she lifted her head up to see that the two were back in the park with the groceries still spilled on the pathway.

Looking around, Sakura stopped crying a little, being surprised.

"A genjutsu?"

Musuko placed his hands on her shoulders, and started to talk in a way that made him seem older than he really was, "I showed you what would happen to your teammates if they had to rely on you to save them." Sakura looked at Musuko, saddened by the comment. "Like I said before, you're weak. And that's because you keep fawning over that Sasuke. I understand that you like him, but he's not gonna like you if you keep acting like a fangirl. No one does, believe me." he tilted her chin up to look at her face which was now in deep thought, and still with some tears in them, "If you want him to notice you, stop being an anorexic, train for goodness sake, and stop attacking in anger. Fight for those you care, that's true power." Musuko then does the unexpected, he leans over and kisses Sakura's forehead. "Your friend Naruto has already learned that." and with that, he disappeared like before, leaving no trace of his existence except for the bag of groceries sitting next to Sakura, all picked up.

* * *

(End Flashback)

'_Fight for those you care.'_ that was what was running through Sakura's mind right there. _'Sasuke.'_ she thought about the raven haired ninja, lying unconscious under the tree trunk. _'Lee.'_ she turned her view to the lying ninja, with no signs of getting back up. _'Naruto.'_ she looked to see Naruto, hanging from the tree and recieving each punch from Zaku. _'Fight for those you care.'_

She drew a kunai from her pouch. Kin noticed it and chuckled at the sight.

"That's not gonna do anything against me you know." her smile went away though when she saw that Sakura was also smiling.

"It's not for you." she placed the kunai to her hair and cut it off to release the grip Kin had on her.

Sakura took her kunai and chucked it at Zaku, who was right now completely defenseless to the attack, but Dosu had intercepted the kunai and caught it.

"So the little girl wants to fight, aye? Then let's give her one." Dosu was about to run forward when he realized something. He couldn't.

Looking down he saw his shadow extending into the bushes, where Shikamaru was standing.

"Just who are you?" Kin yelled out ready for the new opponent.

"That's none of your business. Chouji, now!" just then, a large ball came bursting out of the trees rolling straight at Dosu.

Zaku saw this and let go of Naruto's body to go aid his teammate. Zaku then fell to the ground due to someone grabbing hold of his ankle.

"Not so fast." Naruto said slowly standing up with Zaku's leg in his hand "I'm not finished with you." he lifted Zaku in the air and swung him around, hitting a tree and landing on the ground in pain.

"My arm! You broke it, you..." Naruto punched him out before he could say anymore.

"Kin, a little help here!" Dosu could barely speak as the ball came towards him.

Kin threw a needle at Shikamaru hoping for him to lose his concentration. It worked. The shadow disappeared in time for Dosu to evade the human boulder, but that didn't stop it from turning around and heading straight back at him.

Dosu was about to jump again, but was trapped in the shadow for a second time instead.

"Kin!" Kin was going to throw another senbon needle at Shikamaru, but Ino came running at her catching her completely off guard.

"Oh no you don't." she delivered a powerful right hook into Kin's jaw and sent her shooting into the air.

While Kin was in the air, two kunai shot out and each one stuck into the insides of her knees. The female sound ninja landed on her back, crying in pain and holding onto her knees. Ino came walking out of the brush holding another kunai at Kins neck.

"Nice one Ino-pig." Sakura complimented with the usual insult she gave Ino.

"Thanks Forehead, learned it from one of those sky ninja." Sakura's eyes widened, hearing that Ino too had encountered the sky ninjas.

Just then, Dosu came crashing to the ground right next to Ino and Sakura after taking a direct hit from Chouji. With Dosu moaning on the ground, Sakura stood up and began walking towards the masked shinobi.

"I've got this one." she cracked her knuckles as she neared Dosu, who was now just opening his eyes.

Seeing the girl with her fist behind her head, Dosu could only say one thing. "Crap." Sakura landed her best punch square into his chest, knocking him out.

Now the only sound ninja who remained conscious was Kin...wait a minute, my bad. It appears that she was knocked out when I wasn't looking, sorry folks.

Zaku now was picking himself up from Naruto's punch and lifting himself up. Looking around, the sound ninja saw both of his teammates on the ground, and five enemy ninja surrounding the area. Slowly, he backed away, trying to make his escape quietly. But that went down the toilet when a kunai came out of nowhere and landing right in between his feet.

Looking up, Zaku saw two more ninja. Neji and Tenten had appeared on a branch each holding shuriken in hand.

"Where do you think you're going?" Team 7 and 10 looked up to see Neji and Tenten as well, and then drew their attention to the final sound ninja who tried to get away.

Neji saw his team mate Lee, practically dead on the ground. "Hmph, guess he couldn't handle a couple of ninja." Tenten jumped down and picked up Lee. "So, who wants a piece of him?" the weapon kunoichi asked. Seven ninja were now looking at Zaku with a smile growing on their faces.

"I'll take him." everyone looked behind them to see beneath the tree trunk, Sasuke had awaken.

His left arm was covered in black tattoos in a flame-and-dot pattern as well as purple chakra pouring out around it with small streaks of blue chakra every now and then. The strange Sasuke slowly walked towards Zaku who was holding onto his broken arm, but still could break a smirk, being filled with confidence.

"Heh. I can still take you down, even with one arm." Zaku lifted up his good arm and shot out a sound wave at full force straight at Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't even move from where he stood, nor did he make any facial expressions. The sound wave came rushing at him, Sasuke stayed put. The wave was now right on top him, and instantly, he had lifted his tattooed arm and completely stopped the wave from continuing further. Surrounding his flat palm was a wall of the purple chakra.

Everyone was astonished by the feat that Sasuke had just pulled off.

"Dang it. He's nullifying my attack completely." Zaku put his all into the attack trying to break through the strange chakra barrier.

"Time to finish this." with that, Sasuke clenched his fist.

The reaction was the shield piercing straight through the sound wave, like a knife through butter. The chakra ran straight into the hole in Zaku's hand, ripping the muscles and bones from within. The chakra continued on through his entire body, killing him from the inside out. It poured out of the poor shinobi's mouth and eyes with blood dripping out from both areas.

When the chakra was diminished, the tattoos disappeared as well, Sasuke was a bit wobbly, and Zaku fell down dead. Everyone was now even more awestricken, if not shaking in their skin.

'_He's gotten stronger. But how?'_ Neji thought to himself.

'_I guess I really was too late.'_ Seirei punched the tree he was kneeling on, upset.

"Come on Tenten, Let's get out of here." Tenten nodded to Neji's order and jumped away into the trees.

The only people left now were the five ninja still looking at Sasuke, regaining his balance. Sakura ran over to him in aid.

"I can take care of myself, thank you." Sasuke said snuffing his shoulder away from her.

"Give me the arm or I'll take it from you detached from your shoulder." killer intent spewed out of the pink haired kinouchi, the same that they felt the morning before with his jewels in danger. Reluctantly, Sasuke handed over the arm as Sakura began checking it.

"There doesn't seem to be any cuts or bruises from that attack." Sasuke then fell down to his knees, wincing in pain, and grabbing onto his neck.

Sakura was worried for her teammate as he was kneeling over. After a quick look over at where Sasuke was holding, she noticed that it was an unusual mark with two dots and one tomoe glowing red and orange, the glowing tomoe then changed back to a black mark but with a small black dot near the tip of the tomoe.

'_What is that on his neck?'_ Sakura wondered as she saw the new dot form on his neck. "Are you ok Sasuke?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a bite mark."

"Bite mark?" Sakura had no memory of the Uchiha being bitten by anything during the forest.

"That grass ninja bit me on the neck and then I went out. He must of had injected some kind of poison in me."

"Yeah... Yeah that must be when." she really didn't believe that was the whole story. There was more to this mark than there really was, but she didn't believe that Sasuke knew anything about it.

"Naruto." Naruto was looking in the sound ninjas' pouches to find their scroll as he looked over to see Sasuke. "Good idea dobe. Grab the scroll and then we're heading out to find a place to rest." Naruto nodded and continued to search for the scroll.

* * *

When Tenten met up with Neji, he was looking in a different direction.

"What's up Neji?" he didn't answer. Instead he left Tenten behind and ran over in the direction he was facing. "Neji!" she let out a big sigh and followed behind her pale-eyed teammate.

Neji jumped along a few branches until he landed down next to another ninja.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Neji asked with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

"Actually." the ninja stood up from where he was kneeling to face Neji, "I found it quite interesting. I didn't expect Zaku to die like that."

"You know who that sound ninja was?" Neji, sounding very suspicious.

"And yet, I'm not even a member of the sound. Now, how is that possible?" the two remained silent staring at each other, until Tenten came along with Lee on her back still.

"Who is this?" Tenten asked.

"Oh, please forgive my manners. My name is Brother Seirei of the Sky Village." giving a gentlemen's bow to the female.

"Why didn't you help my teammate?" Neji not beating around the bush, "He could have died thanks to you. All you did was watch as he was-"

"-defeated. Yes, he was. But... he wasn't killed." Seirei then reached into his weapon pouch "And that's where I leave you at. I have to go and meet the others." he pulled out a small gray shell which he threw onto the branch creating a smoke screen. When it had cleared, he was gone.

Neji snarled at how the ninja did not answer him, and left him with even more question than he had started with.

"Come on. We still have to find our scroll." Tenten nodded and the two leapt from branch to branch continuing their search.

* * *

Back with Team 7 and 10, the two teams were getting packed up and ready to go. The sound ninja only had an earth scroll which both teams already had, so Team 7 took it ,just in case they lost their first one or they could use it for trade. The two teams traveled together for awhile, until they believed they were far enough from the battle sight to rest for the night.

Morning broke, and Sakura didn't have to get the boys up with her previous threat. As a matter of fact, they were up before she was.

"Well, good luck you guys. Hopefully we'll see you at the tower tonight." Chouji said to the others, still munching down breakfast.

"Yeah, this whole forest of death is really just troublesome to me." Shikamaru replied in his lazy tone.

"You always say everything is troublesome, Shikamaru. Why don't you take that sky ninja's advice and actually try to train for once?" Ino barked at Shikamaru.

"Wait. You guys met one of those sky ninja?" Sakura pointed at them questionably. "When?"

"Well we met one while training on the day before the exams began. He told me something about not attacking in anger, and for lazy boy here to actually start training." Ino explained.

"If you didn't notice, he too was sitting up next to the tree for the entire time we were there." Shikamaru remarked.

"He was? But, I saw him come walking down into our training grounds." Chouji said still eating.

"That was his clone. He was actually relaxing on the same tree as I was the whole time. After awhile, we began playing mental shogi while we were sitting down." everyone gaped that Shikamaru was actually interacting with the sky ninja before anyone else knew he was there.

"Oh and we also fought one of them on the first day in the forest too. The kid had white hair and beat us down good." Chouji changed the subject by speaking of another encounter.

"That shinobi beat one of Shikamaru's strategies with ease." all gaped once again. They all knew that Shikamaru was not the best ninja of them all, but when it came to strategies, he was practically unstoppable.

"And the sad part is that I almost had him beat in mental shogi. That is if he didn't make that one move." Shikamaru repeating already past events.

"You mean he beat you in shogi!" Ino gaped even more than the others.

"No. We just didn't finish our game, you punched his clone before we were done." Shikamaru explained.

"So what you're saying is that these sky ninjas are geniuses like Shikamaru, but possibly even better?" Sasuke finally spoke up.

"Oh that's what I need. Another bunch of geniuses to fight against. They always mess with my head with their logic." Naruto shouted out holding onto his head.

"That's not very hard to do dobe." crossing his arms in satisfaction of his insult.

"You wanna say that again buddy!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs with clenched fists.

"Both of you stop screaming. You're giving me a headache." the two instantly stopped when Sakura asked. Ino was impressed, not only did Sasuke listen to Sakura, but Sakura was now demanding and forceful.

'_Wonder what's gotten into her?'_

"Come on, I'm getting tired of just sitting around. This is our last day to find a scroll, or we fail. Not that I really care though." Shikamaru intervened into Ino's train of thought.

Ino nodded and smiled to her rival-friend "He's right. We need to go. See ya guys later." she turned around to leave, but then realized that she was the only one moving. "Come on guys." she grabbed both Chouji and Shikamaru by the collars and began dragging them into the woods.

"Well that was fun." Naruto said, with his signature fox grin.

"Yeah, fun." Sasuke said in a sarcastic tone "But like them, we too don't have a scroll either. We better get going." the other two nodded and the three jumped off in their own search.

* * *

**Battle with the sound is over, Team 7 is till looking for a scroll, and there is till no Kabuto in the forest, should I put him in now? Give me suggestions and I might, and as I said before just review, I like comments. Well it's getting late, so I'm out like a candle light.**


	6. Forest p4

**Sky Ninja** now has its sixth chapter.

**disclaimer: i don't own naruto, but i like to draw and make characters for them. they might not make it to the big screen, but it's always fun.**

* * *

"NARUTO!!!" the scream was heard through half of the forest as all creatures and ninja ran in the other direction away from the noise, knowing not to get near it. For everyone knows that when a women is mad, you're dead.

"I swear it was an accident." Naruto, the not-so-bright-ninja decided to stand his ground unlike Sasuke who as smart as he was performed a replacement jutsu to watch the show from afar in a safe area.

"Oh yeah? Then why were you saying my name in your sleep?" Sakuras face was as red a cherry and as hot as magma.

"You were in danger, I swear." Naruto tried to explain.

See what happened was that while Naruto and Sakura were getting their rest from the night before, Sasuke remained awake on watch duty. Being bored, he thought it would be fun to play a trick on the dobe and his fangirl. So what he did was lie right on top of Sakura knowing she was a heavy sleeper and then performed a replacement jutsu to switch himself and Naruto so that Naruto was lying on Sakura instead of himself. The only thing that Sasuke had no control over, but yet made the prank ten times better, was that Naruto talked in his sleep waking up Sakura. And from there is history, extremely painful history.

Trees flew everywhere as Sakura was trying to get her hands on the slippery blonde. Jabbing with her left, Naruto ducked just enough so the fist smashed into the tree behind him, but resulting with a hole in the tree and a knee coming into his gut.

The knee connected.

The tree fell, on Naruto.

Don't worry everyone, he's okay, he just being dragged by his feet while he's still knocked out cold.

(A/N: I hope you all understand that true morale of this story, "Never get Sakura mad.")

"Hey Sakura." She looked at her raven haired team mate as they walked through the forest. "No offense or anything, but why are you so violent now?"

"You don't like it?" tightening her grip on Narutos legs.

"N-no, not at all." Sakura loosened her grip. "It's just that you used to either stare at me all day with that fangirly look, or you were trying to get my attention so you could go out with me. And now you frankly scare the crap out of me."

"So?"

"What happened?"

Sakura began remembering what had happened on that night, letting out a sigh "Let's just say I got some sense knocked into me. I've learned that I can't always expect you or anyone else to always be their to save me, I have to fend for myself." Sakura heard a small chuckle from Sasuke, which in return had her tightening her grip on the leg once more.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm glad." a confused look could now be seen on the pink haired ninja. "You got out of your fangirl stage. Now we can work as an actual team."

"Glad you think of it that way."

"It was one of the sky ninja wasn't it." this caught Sakura completely off guard, she wouldn't have expected Sasuke to talk about the incident, let alone guess who caused it. All she could do was stop in her tracks and look down to the ground. "Which one?"

"The one who guessed your life." she said bluntly so she could have the same effect on Sasuke.

It did. The Uchiha froze in his tracks as well remembering very well how that shinobi had just taken off his mask that he wore in front of others, how he found out that he could use a kekkai genkai, the white haired sky ninja had rattled his life in less than a minute.

The two continued on through the woods without saying another word to each and after awhile, Naruto came back to the land of the living. Now they could move at full speed throughout the forest. After an hour or two of finding no scrolls, the team had ended up at a creek where they rested up for food.

"I'm going to the bathroom you two." Sasuke said with his back to the two "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, Naruto." and with that he went to find the little ninjas room.

Naruto was a bit aggravated from Sasukes insult, but then cooled down once he realized that he was once again alone with Sakura. Fearing that she might try to kill him again, he decided to strip down to his underwear.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked with her fist clenched just in case.

"I'm going to get some food for us." he then dove into the river in search for fish.

Sakura was now all by herself and just sitting around looking at the sky.

Suddenly, something caught her eye. In Narutos weapon pouch, their earth scroll was peeping out just a bit. This surprised Sakura due to the fact that she thought that the scroll was with Sasuke. It was probably with Naruto because he is the least likely to be trusted with it and no one would think of looking for it on him. But that didn't stop her from walking over and taking out the scroll from the pouch looking at it more closely.

'_I wonder what it says on the inside?'_ Sakura looked over at the river. Naruto was no where in sight. She looked over in the other direction towards the forest. There were no signs of Sasuke coming out anytime soon. She redirected her attention back to the scroll in her hand. Lifting up her other hand, she began peeling away the tape that kept the scroll closed.

POOF!

A gray haired shinobi appeared in a puff of smoke right next to Sakura and holding the scroll down on the ground.

"I wouldn't do that if I were..." the ninja didn't finish his sentence as a kunai now laid on his throat which was held by Sakura.

"...You."

Just a few seconds later, Sasuke appeared from the bushes zipping up his trousers.

"Man, what did I eat?" thinking out loud to himself. That all stopped until he noticed Sakura standing next to a ninja unknown to him. But what he was happy about was that his team was had the advantage.

"So. What did you find Sakura?"

"He's trying to steal the scroll." Sasuke eyes widened up and instantly moved his hand to his pouch.

"How did you get the scroll from my pouch?" Sakura looked away from the hostage and looked a bit confused. She found the scroll in _Narutos_ pouch, not Sasukes.

"I found it in Narutos pouch." Sasukes eyes widened even more. He wouldn't expect Sakura to be able to swipe anything from him without him noticing. But Naruto?! He was possibly the worst when it came to stealth (orange suit).

The water splashed as the blonde ninja of Team 7 rose out of the water with three fish in hand.

"Alright! Lunch is on me!"

Of course, Naruto has been fishing all this time and does not know what has happened yet. So when he saw the ninja and Sakura, who he actually recognized as Kabuto from the first part of the exams, he was happy to see him.

"Hey Kabuto! Didn't know you'd be here. I better get more..."

"How did you get the scroll from my pouch Naruto?!" Sasuke interrupted Narutos greeting to Kabuto.

For some reason, the blonde now had a confused look on his face like Sakuras. "I had the scroll? I thought you had it, Sasuke." now it was official, all of Team 7 was completely confused.

Kabuto then cleared his throat, making sure he didn't cut his own neck on the kunai, to obtain the team which right now had no idea what was going on anymore. "Ahem, I wasn't trying to steal the scroll."

Sasuke was the first to leave the land of confusion only to question Kabuto. "Then what were you doing?"

"I was trying to stop her from opening the scroll." both Naruto and Sasuke now looked at Sakura with disbelief, they were told specifically not to open the scrolls until they had both and reached the tower.

"Sakura, put down the kunai. He's a friend." Naruto tried to get the weapon away from Kabutos throat.

Sakura looked at Kabuto and saw that his headband wore the symbol of a konaha-nin. So without any delay, she took the kunai away from his neck and a look of shame came onto her face.

"I'm sorry. I thought you were trying to steal our scroll."

Kabuto rubbed his neck while sweating just a bit. "It's alright. I'd probably have done the same thing in your position, nice job." this compliment brought a smile and relief to Sakura as she believed she was forgiven.

"So what's your real reason here, Kabuto is it?" Sasuke asked with his usual careless stare.

"I was just passing by and I saw her trying to open the scroll. So I came to stop her."

"Hmph!" Sasuke snorted at the explaination. "That excuse is almost as bad as Kakashi-senseis own. Now tell us the truth." this gave Kabuto a small smirk across his face.

"Very well then, I was on my way to get to the tower to meet up with my team. Sakura, as you call her, was looking about holding a scroll. I saw she was alone so I was going to take the scroll. But when I found out that the scroll was one I already had, I was going to leave. That's when her kunai came in." his face then met the ground as a fist slammed into the top of his head from everyones favorite female with pink hair.

"So I was right!" Sakura now rubbing her knuckles getting ready for him to get up.

For Kabuto that was his first mistake. He got up onto his feet moving his jaw back and forth. "Ok, I deserved that. But-" another fist went straight into his gut and he went back down to the ground.

"Sakura! Stop being so violent!" Naruto shouted out dropping the fish and heading over to Kabutos aid.

"I kinda like the new Sakura." Sasuke said with his trademark smirk.

This of course got Sakuras attention. _'He was right. That sky ninja was right! I'm gonna have Sasuke!'_ her train of thought was broken when Naruto started yelling and saying that he had already met Kabuto before.

The story then began with Naruto meeting with Kabuto in the first part of the Chunin Exams to find out just who one of those sky ninja were. He then said that the search resulted in Kabuto getting shocked by his own info cards which was a complete mystery to him and everyone else that saw it.

"So you couldn't find out anything about them, but instead you received more questions that could make you go insane if you thought about it long enough." Sasuke summarized the entire story with just one breathe, Kabuto nodded.

"I haven't seen them in battle yet, but when I do, I just hope it's not me against them." Kabuto replied.

"We've seen one before. He saved us from some snakes that a grass ninja sent after us." Naruto spoke out.

Both Kabutos and Sasukes eyes went wide as completely different thoughts went through their minds.

'_What! I never saw any sky ninja, during that battle. Could it have been the reason why that grass freak let go of me?'_

'_The master has actually confronted one of them? And lost? No, that can't be, he must have already bitten Sasuke. That was his only objective. But this leads to thinking; who are these sky ninja!'_

Kabuto was first to leave his thoughts and had spoken up. "I do apologize for trying to steal from you, but I must be off, my team is probably wondering where I am by now."

"Alright. Seeya later Kabuto." Naruto waved good-bye with his foxy grin plastered on his face. Kabuto nodded and vanished in a swirl of leaves, but not until he got a good look at the mark on Sasukes neck.

* * *

We find Kabuto reappeared only a few hundred yards from where team 7 was.

"So how's the masters pet?" a shinobi was leaning against a tree with a bandana covering up most of his face.

"Something's gone wrong with the curse mark." Kabuto replied.

"What happened?" another shinobi came down from the branch above.

"It's not complete. Our master must have been ripped off of Sasuke too soon."

"Will there be any side effects to it?"

"I don't know. But he is still alive so it was somewhat a success. Now only time can tell if he can handle it."

"I've never seen an incomplete curse mark. This is going to be interesting when we watch him fight."

"It will indeed." the three then disappeared into the trees to the tower.

* * *

(Team sky ninja)

The three sky ninja had met up with each other about an hour ago.

Now, we see that four to six ninja are down on the ground wounded or dead. Seirei was holding in his hand a heaven scroll, notifying that they have accomplished their task.

"Well brothers." Seirei turned to Musuko and Chichi who didn't even have a scratch on them. "We finally got a heaven scroll. We have been performing very well with our mission. But now, I believe we can kinda relax now."

"What do you mean, brother Seirei?" Musuko asked.

"I mean that we can now act like immature children and run like crazy to the tower screaming out random stuff, just for the fun of it."

"You truly did have a sense of humor when a fight was about." Chichi said which only gave Seirei an encouraging smile.

"Let's go!" Seirei held the scroll high up in the air as he shouted out 'WE GOT TWO SCROLLS! WE GOT TWO SCROLLS!'

Chichi and Musuko just shrugged and joined their brother in this running of the idiots. "WE GOT TWO SCROLLS! WE GOT TWO SCROLLS!"

* * *

(Team 7, near nightfall)

Naruto and the gang were leaping from branch to branch continuing their search for that one stupid scroll that they haven't found yet.

A growl was heard coming from Naruto now. More specifically, his stomach. "Man, I'm getting hungry. Shouldn't we be near the tower by now?"

"Yeah. We've been traveling for hours and still haven't seen even the rooftop of the tower." Sasuke didn't answer, he just looked forward with a thinking kind of stare. "Sasuke. What's the matter?"

"Something's not right. We're running around in circles." Narutos eyes went wide followed by Sakura.

The three then stopped and took a look at their surroundings. Everything seemed oddly familiar, in fact, it all looked the exact same.

"Are we...trapped in a genjutsu?" Sakura looked about her seeing everything was the same.

Sasuke nodded. "These guys are good too. That is with Genjutsu. They probably do this to tire out their opponent and then take them when they're weak, cowards."

"But a good plan." a voice from all around was heard by Team 7. "You guys are pretty tired. Now if you don't mind, we'll be taking your scroll." just then, twenty to thirty ninja arose from the ground like they were zombies.

"Clones." Sakura said as one arose from behind her to strike.

"Sakura look out!" a kunai went straight down the middle of the quiet assassin, diminishing it to a gooey puddle. Sakura looked around to expect that Naruto was going to ask if she was alright.

"Are you alright Sakura." this didn't surprise her whatsoever, but what did was that it wasn't Naruto who asked. It was Sasuke.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me." Sasuke smirked and went back to fighting the clones, which Naruto was enjoying so much.

Naruto was busy swinging around his limbs and yet not touching them. "That's a clone." another swing "That's a clone." another swing "Dang it! Which ones the real one." he continued to swing punches and kicks until his goal was complete.

Suddenly, the earth began to quake beneath their feet.

"What the heck is that?!" Naruto looked around as well as Sakura and Sasuke.

Finally, the cause showed up. "WE GOT TWO SCROLLS! WE GOT TWO SCROLLS!" yep you guessed it, the sky ninja, by luck, had showed up and running at full blast ready to plow down anything in their path. And what was in their path you ask? Why, the clones of course.

The sky ninja ran right through each and every one of them,. The three still screaming about them having two scrolls, they left as quickly and as strangely as the entered.

Everyone, including the enemy ninjas, stood completely still trying to think of what the heck had just happened. That was all changed when all the clones that Team 7 were fighting disappeared leaving only three ninja with gas masks standing in front of the.

"What the? How did that happen? We were underground!" the ninja that shouted then heard something that he really didn't want to hear. Knuckles cracking. "Oh man."

Sakura started the beatings with a few anger induced punches which left them completely open for Sasuke and Naruto to have their own fun. After what seemed hours to the enemy ninja, they were finally passed out from so much pain. Naruto leaned down and picked up a scroll that fell out of one of the shinobis pocket.

"Alright, we got a heaven scroll!"

"And look." Sakura pointed towards the direction that the sky ninja headed. "We're almost to the tower. The genjutsu must be down now." and with that, the three konoha nin ran straight to their much wanted destination.

When they reached the tower, Team 7 arrived at their door huffing for air. They finally made it. On the last night and basically the last hour, but they did it.

Entering they saw a large room. On the other side of them was a large statue of two hands in the form of a ram seal and an upper deck around the walls. Above the statue was a large poster with writing on it.

"What does that say Sakura." Naruto asked.

Sakura began translating. Once she did, she summarized that they must now open the scrolls.

Naruto took hold of the heaven scroll while Sakura had the earth scroll. Opening them at the same time, a puff of smoke exploded from the two scrolls. The team took battle position not knowing what was going to happen next.

"Congratulations, you passed the second par-" the voice could only say that much as a fist came out of nowhere and sent it flying into the air. Landing on the ground, Team 7 found out that it was Iruka, and that he was knocked out cold.

"Sakura." the kunoichi turned to Sasuke. "I understand you're a bit more aggressive. But this is taking it too far."

Sakura giggled "I'm sorry, I guess I don't my own strength."

"You can say that again." Naruto commented.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing! Nothing."

Just then another puff of smoke appeared, this time the person walked out. It was the Hokage himself.

"So Iruka, is this our last team?" the Hokage didn't get an answer as he then realized that Iruka was out. "Am I to guess that you guys did this?" both Sasuke and Naruto pointed to Sakura who was now completely defenseless.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident."

"Don't worry. He's had worst. Well then, since you guys appear to be our last team who made it, you should probably be sent to your rooms. Tomorrow, we continue the exams." the Hokage then vanished in another puff of smoke leaving the three alone.

They went to their rooms to sleep for the night. But it seems that someone else was still awake.

"So, the curse mark is incomplete. This could lead to some problems."

"Also sir, I heard that you had an encounter with a mysterious ninja when you fought Sasuke."

"That I did. He must of been the one who made the mark incomplete. He punched me off the tree while I was still attached to Sasuke."

"These ninja could pose as a threat."

"Or a great ally, we still don't know whose side they are on yet. Let's just hope that they are on ours. And if they aren't, hopefully we can defeat them with ease."

"Anything else sir."

"Just keep an eye out, that is all."

* * *

**Whats gonna happen next? Only way to find out is by waiting, reviews might speed up my process too. Well i gotta go, ttfn, ta ta for now!**


	7. Prelims

Good day readers. Chapter seven of **Sky Ninja** is up and running.

I thank all who have reviewed for this story and hope even more will do so. As of now, I'm not worried about the number of reviews, but I will continue to ask for them as it makes me feel better about myself.

Anyways, on with the fic.

* * *

(Morning; Forest Tower, Hokage's Office) 

The Hokage sat behind his desk as three figures walked into his office one at a time with Anko standing next to him. Asuma, Gai, and Kurenai now stood in a row in front of their Kage who had called them in for 'specific' reasons. Kakashi was also supposed to be here, but as they all knew he would be late for some stupid reason. Taking a puff of his pipe, the Hokage began to speak.

"You all know why I have summoned you three here." they all nodded, "Good. Now, had any of your teams come in contact with these, 'Sky Ninja'? If so, step forward." Once he finished, all three stepped forward each one a bit surprised that the others did the same. Sandaime was also taken aback by this predicament. "Alright. Since all three of your teams have met with these ninja, Asuma, you start first." Asuma gave a small nod and took out his cigarette to speak.

"My team had first spotted only one of the shinobi on the first day. The ninja had white hair and gauntlets placed on both arms. From what was told to me by Ino Yamanaka, the ninja had defeated them and then..." Asuma took a snuff from his cigarette before continuing, "He healed their wounds." Sandaime and Anko both raised an eyebrow in wonder.

"Did anything else happen Asuma?" the Kage asked.

"Yes, my team then decided to be foolish and attack the ninja when his guard was qoute unqoute down. What happened next was something that Ino was just exaggerating until her team mates supported it as well." he scratched his head trying to figure it out, "The ninja reversed their clan jutsus." now everyone was wide eyed in shock. No jounin, let alone a genin, was able to perform such a technique. Which lead to the recurring question: Just who were these Sky Ninja? Asuma stepped back into line showing that he had no more information to give.

"Next would be Kurenai. Please tell us what your team had to report." Kurenai nodded and stepped forward.

"My team did not encounter the entire Sky team, but instead met only one throughout the three days like Asuma's team. They described the ninja as having grey hair with kunai across his shoulder. They met him three times, each due to Kiba's dog, Akamaru, had ran off. And for unknown reasons, Akamaru ran straight to the Sky ninja everytime." Sandaime tooked the same reaction as before and quirked up an eyebrow. He then motioned his hand letting the red eyed jounin continue. "The first time was on the first day in the forest, they had stopped to watch a team from sand and rain fight against each other. Akamaru became so scraed from the fight that he ran away. When Kiba found him, he was being petted by the Sky ninja. The second encounter was only made by Hinata that following night, when Akamaru ran off again while she was on night duty." she paused, knowing what she was going to say was to be kept between the two of them, "She found Akamaru watching the ninja play some music on his kunai. And when she traveled back to her camp...she was attacked." everyones head shot up wondering what had happened to the Hyuuga heiress, "It was a group of Rain nin. They ambushed her and-and were going to do things to her." the rest looked on with concern, "But then, the Sky ninja appeared from the trees and and saved her life. She described the fight like he himself had the Byakugan." the Hokage placed his hand on his chin, rubbing it in confusion.

"These ninja appear to be on our side, but they have not yet showed true loyalty toward our village. Gai, maybe your information can aid us in this decision." Gai nodded to the Hokage and began.

"I am sorry sir, but I'm afraid that my team did not provide me with such an amount of information. Rock Lee didn't see much of them, Tenten either, and only Neji refused to report about the Sky Ninja. However, what Tenten and Lee did tell me was that they met up with two of the Sky Ninja, the white one that Asuma had mentioned before, and one with black hair and an enormous sword placed on his back. The white haired ninja was sleeping, but my team could not get near him as he placed traps all around him. As for the second ninja, Tenten saw Neji talking with him, but could not hear what they were saying until it was too late." Sandaime nodded understanding the situation, "But in my opinion, I believe that these shinobi are...are..." tears began forming underneath his eyes, here it comes, "ARE THE TRUE SYMBOL OF THE BURNING FLAMES OF YOUTH!!! I ONLY WISH THAT ROCK LEE COULD HAVE FOUND OUT MORE ABOUT THEM SO WE COULD TRULY KNOW HOW BRIGHT THEIR FLAMES ARE!!!" sweat drops fell everywhere. Including from a one eyed jounin hanging upside-down from outside the window.

"Still going about your flames of youth, aye Gai?" Gai looked over to see Kakashi reading his little orange book and chuckling a bit. "Sorry I'm late. I was-"

"That'll do Kakashi." Sandaime said interrupting. "Do you have any information concerning these Sky Ninja?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." dropping from where he was into the room, Kakashi put away his little book, "My team encountered the black haired ninja on day 2, when at the same time, they encountered a ninja from the grass." Kakashi's one eyed moved its gaze to Anko, "The ninja used snakes to fight my team." Anko became short of breathe at hearing this, she only knew one other person who used snake jutsus. "The Sky Ninja came just in time to save both Sakura and Naruto, but was too late to save Sasuke completely." he looked at the Kage who nodded in return.

"Very well then, the rest of you are dismissed." with a nod from each of the jounin teachers, they left the office. When they left, Kakashi continued.

"He has the curse mark on his neck." the Third leaned in worried what had happened to Sasuke, while Anko moved her right hand to her left shoulder, "But it's incomplete, only one is a tomoe while the other two are just circles."

"Then the mark is weak."

"I wouldn't say that sir, there are also three small dots surrounding the mark. Sasuke has shown amazing power in his previous fight, meaning the mark is still giving him plenty of strength."

"I see. We will deal with this after the prelims." Kakashi nodded and exited the room. Anko and the Hokage remained there silent for a few moments. Until the Hokage spoke, "Anko." she turned to look at him, "You know what this curse mark can do, and I know you have an uncomfortable past about this, but I need to to keep control of your emotions. We will be needing you if anything goes wrong." Anko nodded slightly, but still filled with fear and hate for who had returned.

* * *

(Main room) 

All the ninjas who had passed the second part of the exam were standing on the bottom floor awaiting for the Exam officials to arrive. The teams that had passed were Team 7, 8, and 10, Team Gai, Team Kabuto, the Sand Siblings, and the Sky Ninjas. The sound team did not make it in time with their scrolls and were not allowed as they had only two team mates, alive. The teams began consulting with each other, except for the Sky Ninja, when a large puff of smoke appeared on the stage in front of the ram seal statue. Out of the smoke came forth all the jounin teachers, the Third Hokage, Ibiki, Gekko, and Anko. The ninja known as Gekko walked forth to present himself, but instead began coughing like he was going to hack oout a lung.

cough cough "Welcome to the forest tower. As you can see, cough cough there is a large number of you who have passed the second part of the exams. So, we have decided that the remaining teams will go through prelim matches before we continue to the third and final part of the exam. Those who win their matches shall continue on, the others will be sent home." coughing some more, "If there is anyone who does not want to continue, please say so now." Kabuto instantly raised his hand and was then taken away to the upper levels. Shikamaru was about to raise his arm too, but Ino and Chouji both tackled him before he could. Gekko turned to look at a screen appearing on the wall behind him, "This screen will show who are first two fighters will be. The names shall be selected at random." The screen began showing a bunch of names being changed every second until it finally stopped and said:

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Yoroi Akado

"Took them long enough." Sasuke said crossing his arms.

"Will the other shinobi please cough cough please move up to the higher level so that we may begin the match as soon as possible." and with that, everyone but the named ninjas went up. "Are you two ready?" Sasuke nodded with a smirk as Akado just gave a snort. "Alright, may the first match of the prelims, Begin!"

Without another moment wasted Akado leapt into action and took Sasuke by surprise. Tackling the Uchiha to the ground, Akado placed his hand on Sasuke's forehead. just then, Sasuke began feeling like the hand was sucking out all of his energy from him.

"What's happening?"

"You feel that? That's my jutsu right there. It's draining all your chakra and giving it to me. Soon you'll be completely drained and this match will be over quickly." Akado started laughing seeing his victory close at hand. But what he didn't count for was for Sasuke to get mad. Sasuke's curse began glowing as two more dots appeared around it.

"Get. Off. Of. Me!" Sasuke roared as purple chakra flowed out of his left arm. Seeing the fresh supply of chakra, Akado used his other hand to grab Sasuke's arm and began taking the chakra. But something was wrong, very very wrong. When Akado grasped the Uchiha's arm, he felt a burning pain throughout his hand. The purple chakra crawled up onto Yoroi's hand increasing the pain. He was going to let go, but his hand could not let go. It was as if he was glued onto the arm. The pain and the chakra were moving up his arm slowly as Sasuke spoke with a new voice, "What's the matter? I thought you wanted my chakra. Well, have some more!" the chakra bursted out of his arm and consumed his opponent completely making him feel seering pain all over his body. Akado was now rolling on the floor crying his lungs out until finally passing out from the pain.

All was silent as the purple chakra disappeared from the leaf ninja's body and made its way back into Sasuke's arm. After another minute of people staring at the outcome of the battle, Gekko finally broke the silence with a cough and spoke, "The winner is, Sasuke!" no applause was heard as everyone was still stunned. Three medics arrived on the arena floor as Sasuke went back up to the upper levels. As Akado was being taken away, Gekko announced the screen's next reading:

Nara Shikamaru vs. Aburame Shino

"Ah man. I have to fight now? So troublesome." Shikamaru latches onto his head as Shino quietly went down the stairs. He then felt a bump on the top of his head as her looked to see Ino in one of her tempers again.

"You will go down there and fight Shino, or I will knock you into next week!"

"Calm down. Sheesh." Ino turned her head behind her to see Chichi leaning forward on the rails just like Shikamaru.

"Yeah, you should listen to him Ino." Shikamaru agreeing with the sky ninja. Chichi turned to give him an evil glare. As he did, Shikamaru jumped back and started heading down the stairs. Chichi returned his gaze to the arena floor where Shikamaru and Shino were standing.

"Fighters ready?" Shikamaru nodded as he let out a long yawn. Shino also nodded. "The second match, Begin!" Gekko jumped out of the way. But when he landed, he saw that neither competitor had moved from their spots. They hadn't even moved a muscle. It continued that way for another three or four minutes. The spectators were slowly getting agitated as they wanted to see fighting, not standing.

Finally, Ino bursted out yelling. "Come on Shikamaru, move your lazy butt!"

"Did I not just tell you to calm down." rubbing his right ear from the instance of shouting. "And besides, they are fighting. Just not physically." how to confuse a blonde? This would be a perfect way to do it. She was by far understanding what Chichi had just said. With a sigh, the sky ninja tried to explain, "They are fighting mentally. Right now, they are going through each and every strategy they have in their artillery. This is the battle of the minds." squinting his eyes, Chichi is able to get a closer look at Shino's right hand as it gave the smallest twitch possible. "Now the real battle will begin soon." Once he finished talking, Shikamaru pulled out a kunai and threw it at Shino.

Shino reacted by stepping just to the left of the kunai's line of fire. This was what Shino was waiting for. He lifted his arm toward Shikamaru which then shot out from his sleeve a swarm of insects.

"Interesting. Just like Kisei." Chichi whispered to himself.

The insects were speeding towards their target. Shikamaru jumped out of the way just in time as the insects rammed into the wall behind him. "That was close." Shikamaru spoke too soon as the insects made a sharp turn and were heading straiight at the airbourne shinobi. "So troublesome." Once he landed, he spring boarded off the ground dodging the insects slam into the ground. As he was airbourne again, Shikamaru threw another kunai at Shino trying to distract him. Shino just moved over another step to dodge the kunai and continued with sending his bugs out to attack his opponent. Shikamaru had no other choice but to repeat his jumping away from the insects as they kept on coming after him. However, with each jump he threw a kunai or two to try to make contact with Shino, but Shino moved everytime making each kunai stick to the wall behind him.

"Genius." Chichi said. Ino turned from the fight to look at Chichi.

"What?"

"Shikamaru. He really is quite the genius."

"If you haven't noticed. He's not winning."

"That's what you think. Not what will happen." confused once again, Ino decided to ignore it this time and go back to the fight.

Shikamaru was down to his last kunai, and Shino had more than enough energy to continue like this for another few hours. Finally, Shino decided to give up on the chase and brought his insects back to him. This gave Shikamaru the opportunity to catch his breathe and possibly get the upper hand. He moved his hands into a rat seal, "Kagemane no Jutsu." his shadow shot out towards Shino, it was mere inches away when all of a sudden it stopped. "Huh?" that questioin was soon answered by Shino.

"Even insects have shadows." right in front of Shino's feet was one of his many insects laying on the ground.

Shikamaru snarled, _'With his bugs around him, I can't catch him in my jutsu.'_ he deactivated his jutsu as Shino shot out his insects again. Shikamaru jumped out of the way. When he landed though, he expected the bugs to come at him, but instead they stayed where they were behind him hovering in the air. Just then they began spreading across the room slowly making a semi-circle behind him. Shikamaru looked in front of him to see that Shino still held out his hand.

"This match is over." Shino shot out another barrage of insects from his sleeve. Shikamaru had no place to go now that his exits had been blocked by the remaining insects. Seeing his situation, Shikamaru smiled.

"You're right." Shino quircked an eyebrow, "It is over." Shikamaru lifted his hand, as he did a small glimmer appeared around his hand. Shino's head shot up showing that he was surprised.

The bugs stopped moving forward. No one knew for sure what had just happened. But once they saw Shino's shadow, they found out. Shikamaru had successfully performed his shadow jutsu and possessed Shino.

"Very good Shikamaru. I forfeit." and with that, Gekko pronounced Shikamaru the winner as he removed his jutsu.

"H-How?" Ino asked not really to anyone, but Chichi answered anyways. "Look at his hand." Ino looking closer, sees a shiny piece of thread wrapped around Shikamaru's hand and extending outward. "He has trip wire tied to his hand and to one of the many kunai that he threw at the wall. He didn't want to hit Shino, he wanted a straight path to his shadow. When Shino believed he was about to win, that was when he used his jutsu to go along the wire, go down the wall, and to Shino's shadow behind him." Ino's eyes widened, but then smirked.

"That's Shikamaru for you. Lazy but smart."

"Just imagine if he wasn't lazy. He'd probably be high chunin by now." Shikamaru was just arriving up the stairs as he was then tackled by both his team mates celebrating his victory.

"Please, get off of me. Losing. Air." Chichi smiled as he looked back up to the screen which had now been scrambling the next set of names:

Inuzuka Kiba vs. Brother Musuko

"Well, well. Musuko's up. Where is he anyway?" Chichi looked over to the wall across from him to see Seirei, but no Musuko. Then he turned to the wall adjacent to his right, and sure enough Musuko was there laying against the railing playing around with his gauntlets. He did not notice at all that his name was on the screen and continued with what he was doing.

Kiba on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear. "Alright! Time to show these sky ninja how it's done. Come on Akamaru." with a yip, the dog jumped up onto Kiba's shoulder and the two set off to the arena floor.

"Kiba." said boy stopped and turned to see Hinata in her worried phase, "Be careful."

"Hinata's right, Kiba." Shino said now standing beside Hinata, "Remember the last time we saw a sky ninja. If I recall, he took on three genin without standing up."

"Heh, he took them by surprise and you know it. Besides, with Akamaru by my side, we'll win for sure." Kiba grin widened if that was even possible and jumped over the railing landing onto the arena floor. However, his opponent was nowhere to be found. Looking up, Kiba finds his opponent still leaning against the railing. "Hey! Get your butt down here so I can kick it back up there."

Musuko hearing this had shot his head straight up and turned to the cocky ninja. Without a word, Musuko leaned over the rail and flipped down to the floor. Landing on his feet, he stood up with a smile as large as Kiba's plastered onto his face. Kiba was a now irked and placed Akamaru down onto the floor next to him.

"Should your dog be down here? It could get dangerous." Musuko asked the canine ninja who responded with the utmost confidence, "Me and Akamaru always fight with each other, no matter what." still with his smile, Musuko readied himself by going into position. He squated down with his arms across, right over left. As he asumed his position, the Hokage crossed his arms as well sitting back into his chair.

_'So. We will see just how these Sky Ninja are in battle.'_ he made sure was not to blink at all during this fight as one minor detail could reveal if they are for Konoha, against it, or even spot a weakness.

Gekko approached the two still coughing. "The two fighters ready?" Kiba moved into his stance then gave a nod. Musuko still in his stance gave his nod as well. "The third match will begin, now!"

Musuko raised his right arm which was being supported by his left, he pointed his gauntlet at Kiba. Just then a senbon needle shot out speeding its way to Kiba's chest. Kiba's eyes widened as he moved at the last second and flipped out of the needle's way. As he flipped in the air, the needle flew right along his back and shot straight through his weapon pouch, the needle continued its path until it sunk itself into the opposite wall. Kiba landed without a scrtach on him and stood up with a smile.

"I would suggest that you get that explosion tag out of your pouch now." Musuko said as he raised one of his hands into a sign.

Kiba looked down at his pouch. Out of the hole the senbon made there was smoke coming out, a tag had been lit and it was sitting in his pouch.

"Akamaru, watch out!" he reached for the lit note which was attched to one of his kunai. He then threw it off to the side of the room as quickly as possible. The tag exploded on impact with the sonic boom staggering Kiba's and Akamaru's landing. "How on earth?"

"Wondering why your tag went off?" Kiba looked over at Musuko who had lowered his arms, "Well first thing's first. I don't waste my shots. Second, I was the one who set off your tag. You see my needle aren't your regular needles. They are each laced with my chakra allowing me to do things that normally one couldn't do, like set off your explosion tag for one. When the needle went through your weapons pouch, some of my chakra remained behind, and so I activated the tag with the usual handsign." Kiba's eyes narrowed, he looed at his opponent in shock.

"That must of been how he messed up our jutsus." Shikamaru said looking from above. "When he shot us in the legs with those needles, he used his chakra to interfere with our jutsus." right after the explanation, Shikamaru heard a chuckle coming from beside him. Chichi was smiling while shaking his head back and forth.

"Excellent deduction my dear Shikamaru." he said with a funny accent, "But so wrong. It wasn't the needles that screwed your team up."

"Then what was it?" Chichi remained quiet forcing the genius ninja to go back to watching the fight.

"So. Would you like to continue, or forfiet now?" Musuko said bringing his arms back up in the shooting position.

"No way. Me and Akamaru fight till the end. Let's go!" and with that, Akamaru gave a small nod and jumped into the air. As he was in the air, Kiba got onto all fours with his arms crossing each other. Akamaru then landed on his master's back. "Shikyaku no Jutsu!" Kiba then grows claws on his hands and his canine teeth become even longer. Once the transformation was done, Akamaru bursted into smoke and reappeared as his master still standing on his back.

The two Kibas went there seperate ways surrounding Musuko from both sides. The two ran on all fours as they closed in on their prey. Musuko remained where he stood and lifted his arms in a crossed position with each gauntlet aiming at one of the Kibas. As they neared their destination, both Kibas leapt into the air. While in the air, the two began to spin faster and faster.

"GATSUUGA!" the two cried out as the Kiba on the left approached the Sky Ninja. Musuko shot out one of his needles thinking that it would stop the whirling ninja, but instead the needle was deflected away and the Kiba continued toward him.

"Oh crap." he jumped out of the way as the Kiba came crashing down to the ground. Just then, Musuko felt an intense pain in his back. The second Kiba had struck him from behind. Thinking this was the worst of the attack, Musuko did not see that the first Kiba had reflected off the floor and was heading straight for his front. The Kiba hit him directly making him the filling of a Gatsuuga sandwich. All he could do was yell in pain until the two stopped spinning and had kicked him into the wall. Musuko lied on the floor without motion as Akamaru trnasformed back into his dog form.

Gasps were heard from two specific females up in the higher level. Both Ino and Sakura, who were both on opposite sides of the room, had their hands covering their mouths as they saw the white haired genin get thrown into the wall. The two were then greeted by either Chichi or Seirei standing next to them.

"Don't worry." the two shinobi said to the two kunoichi, "He's had worst than that."

Kiba approached his defeated rival with his smile still on his face from the kick. "Looks like I showed the Sky Ninja who is better."

"Not exactly." Kiba was stunned as he heard Musuko speak. What stunned him even more was not that Musuko rose up without shaking or losing balance, but that there was no wound on his front or back just a hole in his shirt. Brushing the dust off his shoulders, Musuko continued, "I must admit. I did underestimate you." the sky ninja then closed his eyes and bowed his head, "But that is a mistake I will not make again." Seirei then bowed his head as well, followed by Chichi. After a few seconds, they all lifted their heads back up with eyes open and completely changed.

Their left eye had transformed. The iris chaged to a pure green color as the pupil had vanished completely leaving only a straight line going from the center of the eye to off into the head. All the lines were different for each of the ninja. Seirei had his line going straight up, Chichi had his going down and to the left, and Musuko had his line going down and to the right. Everyone around one of the three shinobi saw the eye and looked on in awe, including the Hokage.

"This is a dojutsu that I have not yet seen. Could it be a bloodline?"

"What is that?" Kiba asked pointing at the eye. All three Sky Ninja smiled and said together,

"Mitarigan!"

Instantly, Musuko shot forward going on the offence this time. Heading straight towards Kiba, he threw a fist at him, but Kiba jumped out of the way. Musuko didn't waste any time and went after the canine ninja. As he did, Kiba himself went offensive an the two began throwing punches missing each other by inches. The two appeared to be dancing around each other for awhile until finally Kiba used his claws to slash at Musuko's face while at the same time Akamaru came running behind his opponent in his Kiba form. The claw attack didn't hit as Musuko moved out of the way like all the other punches before. Akamaru jumped into the air and performed another Gatsuuga and headed straight at Musuko. Kiba and Musuko continued their fist face, neither of them noticing the spinning Kiba coming at them. Then Musuko ducked down and rolled off to the side as Akamaru came into Kiba's view as well as his claws going right into his master's chest. The attack wasn't as powerful as before as the dog cancelled the attack as soon as he could. The pain was bearing but still hurt alot.

"How did he dodge that?" Sakura asked. Seirei answered without moving his gaze, "It's the Mitarigan. It gives the holder the sight of others. Basically, what we see, he sees. And since we were able to see that dog coming from behind, so did he and he dodged the attack."

"Amazing. Is it a bloodline?"

"Yes. And no." this recieved a confused look from Sakura. Seeing she wasn't getting any more answers from the black haired ninja, she looked back at the match.

Musuko went after Kiba once again and rejoined his rival in another fist fight. This time, Akamaru (still in his Kiba form) went into the fist fight as well. With two against one in a match of taijutsu, Musuko would have surely lost, but since he had the Mitarigan, Musuko was able to dodge every punch and kick without even looking at them himself. A threesome dance was now in motion for another minute or so, until Musuko got tired.

"Time to end this." next, he jumped out of the melee of fists and landed on the side of the room. Performing handsigns, Musuko pointed his arms to the sky. "Jouro Senban: Raining Needles!" senbon needles shot out from the gauntlets one after another flying up into the air. The needles were scattered across the room when they reached the peak of the flight. Kiba was worried now than he ever was before. There was no way to escape the needles, absolutely no way.

"This doesn't look good Akamaru. Wait!" Kiba then realized something, earlier in the match. The needles had been deflected by his Gatsuuga. If he could use it again, it could just save his life. "You ready bud?" Akamaru nodded looking up at the now falling needles.

The needles came at them faster than they expected, but they still were ready. "Gatsuuga!" the two spun around as fast as they could. When the needles made contact, like before they were deflected and landed in the floor surrounding them. Once the raining needles had stopped, so did Kiba's and Akamaru's jutsu. All around them were needles sticking out from the ground, and not one of them had hit the two canine ninjas. And once again, Kiba had his famous dog smile on his face. Just then clapping was heard from Musuko.

"Well done. Well done indeed. But you forgot one thing." Kiba's smile quickly went away, "And what's that, Musuko?" Musuko knelt down as he placed his finger on the stone floor. He then struck his finger across the ground like a matchstick, but instead of fire, it was lightning at the tip of his finger.

"I don't waste a shot." he moved his electrified finger to a needle that had landed right next to him. Kiba didn't understand, that is until he looked around him. He was completely surrounded by the needles sticking out of the ground. He looked back at Musuko as it was too late to do anything, "Raikon: Raika Nobe!" (Lightning Style: Lightning Field) his finger touched the needle. Instantly, the electricity shot throughout the tips of the needles until the entire floor was covered in eletcric currents, and with Kiba in the middle of it all. A huge cry came from Kiba's mouth as lightning ran up and down his and Akamaru's bodies. When the electricity faded away, Kiba fell down not able to move, but still conscious. As he laid there, he heard footsteps getting louder and louder. In front of his field of vision lied Musuko's feet.

"So, you gonna finish what you started?" Musuko looked up to his brother Chichi, who shook his head no. He then looked over to Seirei who had been reading his book for awhile. He too shook his head no.

"No. I've learned first hand, not to mess with animals when my brother is around." and with that, he turned around and went up the stairs, claiming his victory as medics approached Kiba's body. Musuko's eye went back to its normal shape and color when he arrived at his previous spot. Extending out his arms, he pointed them to the arena floor. As he did, every last needle in the floor and walls popped out of their holes and flew right back into the gauntlets clearing the floor of any obstacles.

"That sky ninja was amazing. He used his weapons to create an electric field around Kiba. Truly a ninja of resources." Kurenai said as she watched her student being carried away. "Good job Kiba, you were beaten by a great ninja. There is no shame in that."

"Interesting." the Hokage said, "That ninja used a lightning jutsu and yet he is from the Sky village. The only shinobi I've seen do those kind of jutsus were from Kumo." he rubbed his chin pondering who these Sky Ninja could really be. While that was going on, Gekko reappeared to present the next two opponents.

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Akimichi Chouji

"Alright! It's my turn." the blonde ninja bursted out with his fox grin. He ran down as fast as he could as Chouji was busy munching on a bag of his favorite chips.

"Chouji, stop stuffing your face and get down there." reluctantly, Chouji put away his bag and went on his way down the stairs. The two fighters met each other on the arena floor with Gekko between them performing the same thing, "Fighters ready?" the two nodded as Gekko then backed up to stay out of the way. "The fourth battle. Begin!"

"Yeah! Let's go Fatty!" Ino yelled out. She knew fully well that her team mate didn't like to be made fun of his weight And everytime some one did, he'd get angry.

_'She's going to get it after this! I'll make this quick, I already know Naruto. He was the lowest in the class so this shouldn't be a problem.'_ Putting his hands together, Chouji swelled up into his giant ball form causing Naruto to go wide eyed.

"This doesn't look good." the ball started spinning, gaining speed as Chouji came rolling right at the orange shinobi. Sasuke and Sakura watched as Naruto now was jumping out of the way of the green ball's path.

"Hmph, the dobe's not gonna last long if he keeps this up." Sasuke said with arms crossed.

Naruto continued to dodge Chouji's attacks as Chouji remained in his ball form still trying to run over Naruto. After a few more jumps from the blonde, Naruto was finally cornered by Chouji's massive form. The ball then stopped savoring the soon to be victory. Meanwhile, Naruto was looking frantically for a way out. Looking left, right, up, then down...wait. Up! Naruto had found a way out. He put his hands together to make the ram seal as Chouji decided to move in for the final blow. As the green ball was nearing Naruto, Naruto himself created a shaodw clone right next to him. The clone interlocked his hands to make a step as the original Naruto stepped onto it and did a chakra enhanced jump up into the air. And just in time, Chouji pummeled straight into the wall making the Naruto clone disperse. But the real Naruto was out of danger as he landed behind Chouji.

Chouji's ball body began shaking about trying to loosen itself from the crater it made. "I can't get out!" Chouji continued to release himself, but found no success in doing so. A few more tries and Chouji gave up, he returned to his original form standing in the middle of the crater. But once he did, it was a big mistake.

Now that he was out of the ball, Chouji could see, which he couldn't have been able to do while stuck in the wall. Since he couldn't see, Naruto had created many more clones which now surrounded him. The clones were now running right at him. Chouji pulled out a kunai and threw it, it connected with one of the clones as it puffed away, but that didn't stopped the rest of the clones as four of them slid down onto the ground and in unison kicked the chubby ninja into the air.

"Uz..." another clone jumped up and kicked Chouji even higher. "...um..." a second clone pops up to kick Chouji as well "...ak..." a third and final clone kicks Chouji as high as he could "...i..." Chouji looks to his left and sees his opponent raising up higher than himself. Naruto then perfomed a front flip with his foot following right behind, then it connected fully with Chouji's chest, "Naruto Rendan!" Chouji went plummeting down to the arena floor. And when he hit the ground, a second crater was made and Chouji was out cold.

Naruto landed down on the floor next to Chouji's body, "How do you like my new move? I call it, 'The Uzumaki Naruto Rendan'!" Gekko just smiled as he proclaimed the orange ninja the winner of the match. More medics came along and took Chouji away in a stretcher.

"Good job Naruto!" Sakura said as her team mate came up the stairs.

"What's the matter dobe? Why'd you take so long?" Naruto now had a vein popping out of his forehead as he flailed around his fists.

"You want to go, Sasuke? Come on, we can do it right here, right now!"

Meanwhile, the screen once again began rolling for the new names. Once they stopped, the screen read:

Yamanaka Ino vs. Haruno Sakura

"Well I'd love to stay and watch you two kill each other, but...I got a match to win." Sakura went walking down the stairs while her two team mates had each other by the throats.

"Yes! It's finally my turn. And who better to beat than little miss forehead!" She went down to the arena floor to meet up with her rival.

Gekko reappeared in the center of the floor. "Fighters, are you ready?" the two kunoichi nodded without moving their gazes at each other. Both girls were determined to defeat the other, no matter what. "The fifth match, Begin!"

The two grabbed for their kunai simultaneously and just as if they were mirrors of each other, they ran straight towards each other. With a clash of kunai, the fight between two long time rivals had started.

* * *

Well it's finally done, well this half of the exams. There's still the rest of the fights, not to mention the finals and the one month training, boy I can't wait to finish up this exam. I have so many more ideas for the Sky Ninja, but first things first. So give me reviews as I always will take them no matter how good or bad they are. And with that I bid you farewell until next chapter. 


	8. Prelims 2nd half

I introduce to you all the eighth chapter of **Sky Ninja**.

If anyone was wondering why there was no battle with Kankuro or Naruto's version of Mr. Fantastic, well that's because their battle is the only one that is actually the same as the one in the series aside from Gaara and Lee's. So I skipped over their battles, sorry if anyone is disappointed but I'm toolazy to describe a fight that you guys should all know well enough.

Reviews will be continued to be asked until I own a pet panda with a samurai sword. But until then...

On with the fic.

* * *

The screen above said, "Ino vs. Sakura" as the two female rivals stood face to face on the arena floor ready to battle each other. The two had been arch rivals for years now, only able to do minor damage to each other. But now, now that there were no rules, anything went, nothing held back, this was to be the final battle between the two. To see who would get the ultimate prize that which had caused their rivalry to begin, Sasuke.

Gekko approached the center coughing out his lungs. Once stopped, "Fighters are you ready?" the two nodded without moving their gaze from each other. Raising his hand, "The fifth match, Begin!"

The two pulled out a kunai from their respective pouches and began charging at each other at full force. Like mirrors of each other, the two collided with their kunais and reflected away all simultaneously and charged at each other again. Another deflection with their kunai as they jumped away in opposite directions always colliding in the center of the arena. Another collision, and another, and another. It continued until they both stopped to catcha breathe, both back in the spot that they had started from.

"The two have been replecating each others movements." Chichi said to himself, "If they keep this up, there will be no winner." a smile slowly crawled onto his face. "Unless..."

"She's doing pretty well, but so is that blonde." Musuko spoke to himself, "There will be no end to this if they keep doing this." a smile slowly crawled onto his face. "Unless..."

Back with the girls, the two had caught their breathe and were about to start the second round. This time they pulled out a second kunai for better accuracy. They each tool a step forward, when they were both stopped.

"Ino!" the blonde kuniochi turned around to see Chichi.

"Sakura!" she tuned to her right where Musuko called out to her. Both at once then shouted out what they thought would aid their called on person...

"DON'T GET ANGRY!" It didn't give aide.

Both girls had a vein bursting out of their forehead as they did in fact, get angry. Their faces were as red as could be with their teeth gritting against each other. The only thing that could make them that angry would be someone that talked about their anger issue. They twirled their kunais in hand and redirected their rage towards the other female.

They rushed each other nowat higher speeds and possibly greater strength. As the two collided, the kunais didn't hit each other this time. Instead, Sakura ducked the shot and sent her own kunai right at Ino's stomach. Seeing the duck, Ino jumped up and flipped over Sakura before the kunai could reach her. As Ino landed, she swung herself around sending her foot into a round house kick at Sakura's head. At the last second, Sakura caught the leg with her right hand as she dropped one of her kunai onto the ground. Now that she had the leg, she put her other kunai in her pouch and grabbed Ino's leg with both hands and began spinning the blonde ninja around. Sakura then released Ino sending her body across the room. She didn't hesitate as the pink haired ninja hurried herself to Ino's landing area. As Ino did land on her feet, she saw her pink rival with a fist coming straight at her as well.Ino had no time to dodge the fist and so put up her arms to absorb the impact. As the fist hit the blonde's arms, Ino was sent the rst of the way to the wall behind her and landing on the ground.

Ino looked up, feeling the pain in her forearms and back, and saw Sakura standing in front of her weakened formed. Ino then saw the smile, the smile of victory on Sakura's face. Sakura knew that the match was over, she knew that Sasuke was watching, and she knew that he was all hers now. But Ino didn't know that. Ino only saw a cocky pink haired brat with an enormous forehead. She had motivation to continue on until she won, she would continue on until she won. Or until death. And with that last thought, the blonde kuniochi stood back up with both kunai still in hand.

All Sakura did was chuckle a bit as she cracked her knuckles for another smackdown. The next thing that happened was really a huge blur. But at the end of it, Ino was on the other side of Sakura while Sakura herself had an open wound on her right arm. As the blood dripped down, every looked down wondering what had happened. Sakura's eyes were wide open while Ino was taking in deep breathes. Neither one of them moved, but Ino then spoke.

"Didn't expect that did you, forehead?" She lifted her right hand to show the bloody kunai. Sakura turned around holding the cut to stop the bleeding. It wasn't too severe, but it still caught her off guard. Twirling her kunai, Ino continued to talk, "Ready for round three?" Sakura then untied her forehead protector and tied it around her arm to make a bandage for the wound. Sakura was angry now since she was the first to get cut, it made her look weak in front of Sasuke, and Ino would pay for that.

Sakura threw her a fist back and then charged at her blonde opponent. Ino still with her back turned to Sakura, the pink haired kuniochi threw the punch only to hit air. Ino had ducked down and went to her hands. Crunching up into a ball, Ino pushed back with her hands on the ground shooting her feet straight into Sakura's stomach, and this time it connected. The kick was twice as hard as Sakkura's punch and since Sakura had no way of protecting herself, she took the full blow of the kick. She was sent flying straight into the wall that Ino struck only harder and leaving cracks behind as she fell to the ground unable to get up.

The arena went quite. Ino walked to her rival as she layed there motionless. Kneeling down, she placed a hand on Sakura's head.

"The winner. Yamanaka Ino!" Gekko shouted out. Ino started moving Sakura's head back and forth.

"Hey, Forehead. You alright?" she continued to move her opponenet's head back and forth until Ino heard some groans coming from the pinky. "So, you're finally awake." Sakura looked up and around not knowing where she was.

"Is it over?" Sakura asked. Ino nodded, "Yeah. I hit you pretty hard too." Ino then lifted up Sakura to her feet. Helping Sakura by being a lean-on, Ino went with her friend/rival to where the rest of Team 7 was. Once she dropped Sakura off, Ino headed back to her team.

Sakura began rubbing her back as she layed against the wall trying to relax the pain, "Uh, I had her. What did I do wrong?"

"You got angry." Seirei said walking up to her. "I do believe my brother told you, not to get angry. Ino listened. Why didn't you?" the Sky Ninja was right, Sakura did attack out of anger throughout the entire match. And with it she almost won, but at the end she was lost to her rage and had lost. Ino on the other hand was not fighting out of anger, for the entire match, but instead had used something else to motivate herself and in the end win.

"What did she do to win?" Sakura asked.

"She kicked you in the gut." Sasuke said bluntly without going over to her and seeing if she was ok.

"No. I know what she did. I mean..." she turned to Seirei, "...What, did she do to win?"

"That, my friend, is something my brother had also told you." he then pointed over to Musuko, who looked over the railing right at Sakura with a smile on his face.

_'Fight for those you care.'_ ran through Sakura's mind once more. She now understood what it meant. Ino fought for Sasuke, she fought to win his heart. I bit fangirlish, but none the less, it provided the motivation to let her succeed in the fight. Sakura, all she cared about in that fight was to get Ino for making her look like a fool in front of Sasuke. _'From now on, I will do as you have told me, Musuko. You weird white haired boy.'_

Musuko was then met by his fellow team mate, Seirei,in a flash and standing right next to him. "You're getting to attached to this mission, Brother Musuko." and with that he left his white haired brother to return to his spot, leaving a shinobi with something to think about.

"And now for the next match." Gekko directed everyone's attention to the screen as it brought up the next two names.

Tenten vs. Brother Chichi

Chichi was right down there as soon as he saw his name up on the screen, as was his opponent Tenten.

"She's so dead." Musuko said out loud only to be rsponded by a familiar face, someone who interrupted his nap in the forest.

"What makes you so sure she's going to lose." Neji yelled at the white haired shinobi, still angry from their last encounter. Musuko turned around to talk to the Hyuuga face to face.

"Well, from what I've gathered, you're entire team is basically Taijutsu users. And my brother has been able to perfectly counter that jutsu."

"What? Have you not seen Neji's byakugan?" Rock Lee bursted out correcting Musuko.

"Yes. He uses chakra, but he only uses it to enhance his Taijutsu abilities. As does Tenten. And you, Lee." Musuko left the two genins speechless as he turned back to watch the fight start.

Gekko raised his hand, "The sixth match, Begin." Once he finished his sentence Tenten jumped back, making sure she had enough distance between her and her opponent.

"Please don't tell me your counting blocks, please." Tenten was surprised that Chichi knew what she was doing, but she didn't let the rude comment get to her.

She pulled out a kunai from her pouch and threw it right at Chichi's face. Chichi did not move as he simply caught the weapon in front of him. "Nice throw, but lacking in speed." he put the kunai down to his side still standing where he was.

Tenten jumped to the side pulling out another kunai and throwing right at Chichi's stomach. Once she landed, she threw another kunai at the exact same place. Chichi this time did move, but not out of the way. He threw Tenten's kunai that he had. Once released, he made a 180 degree turn while bending down with his left hand move to his back. The kunai he threw, did not hit Tenten, but that wasn't what Chichi aimed for. He aimed for Tenten's kunai. the kunai made direct contact with the other and the two fell to the ground useless. While as Tenten's second kunai was then caught by Chichi in his bent down position, leaving him unscaved by any of his opponent's attacks.

"Wonderful accuracy. But you still lack speed." Chichi said as he stood back up with yet another kunai of Tenten's in his hand. She cursed under her breathe as sh thought to herself.

_'He has caught two of my kunai, and perfectly deflected my other one. He must be as skilled with kunai as I am, I should have guessed with that pack of kunai on his shoulder. If so, then that means that i need to use more of my artillery._'and with that, she pulled out a scroll and unravelled it. Inside was multiple signs written across the paper. Biting her thumb, she placed some of her blood onto the paper. A puff of smoke came from the scroll, out from it came a sickle attached to an iron bar by a chain. "Try this." she swung the sickle around above her head preparing to make a shot. Chichi responded by also swinging the kunai around his head.

"What? What is he doing?" Lee said, "He's doing exactly what Tenten is doing!"

"That Lee is how he counters. Brother Chichi is the only person who has perfectly mastered the Kagamiken (Mirror Fist). He is able to perform the same form of taijutsu as his oppoent and therefore perfectly countering it." Tenten throws her sickle as Chichi throws the kunai at the same time. The two weapons collide into each other rendering them useless. "She's not fighting against Chichi. She's fighting against herself." Lee look down at the lower floor, now worrying about his team mate.

Tenten pulled back her sickle now content that Chichi no longer had a weapon. Now all she had to do was use the sickle again and take him out. If he caught it again, she had secretly placed an explosion tag on the handle. Once the sickle stopped, the tag would ignite tyhen explode in the next five seconds. She smiled as she swung around the sickle over her head to throw once again. Chichi only stood where he had always been for the entire match waiting for the next attack. With a flick of her wrist, the sickle went across the room. Chichi merely caught the weapon in his hand in front of his chest.

"Once again, you lack-"

"Speed isn't always what matters." Tenten inteerrupted him. Chichi looked down only to see a bright flash of light.

Smoke surrounded the area where Chichi stood. The explosion tag was a success. Tenten pulled back her sickle with a smile of victory.

"Now she's dead." Musuko said ubruptly. Lee and Neji looked confused as they like everyone else saw the obvious outcome of the battle.

Gekko came walking out to the arena raising her hand, "The winner is-" a crashing sound came from the smoke covered area. Just then, a figure bursted through the cloud and landed right behind the weapon specialist. A fist appeared as Tenten then went flying to the other side of the room.

No one knew for sure what had happened. But when the smoke cleared from the explosion tag, they saw that a cracked floor was present but nothing else. Then they looked over to where Tenten had been previously standing. In her place was Chichi with an arm fully extended and a clenched fist at the end. Head bnowed down, his face was covered by the grey hair. But everyone could feel the killer intent coming from him, not too great, but enough to make one worried what he might do next. But as he lowered his hand, so did the intent and his face was visible again.

"So. You want to play it like that, do you?" Chichi said in his calm demeanor.

Tenten rose up and stunned to see that he survived being that close to an explosion tag. _'He's strong. Very strong.' _she reached for another scroll, now holding two of them, _'I guess I have no other choice but to use this.'_ and with that she placed the two scrolls next to her on each side standing straight up. Performing handsigns, Tenten then cried out, "Soshoryu (Twin Rising Dragons)" two smoke pillars ascend from each one of the scrolls and eventually turned into the form of two dragon heads slowly spiralling around each other. Then the smoke dragons disappeared to show that they were the scrolls unravelled and spiralling around in mid-air. Tenten lept onto the midst of the scrolls and drew more blood from her hand. As she placed her hands on the scrolls, weapons started to pop out as she grabbed onto them and threw them straight at Chichi.

The weapons came hurtling towards Chichi's body like every other weapon before. He caught the first two that came at him, a kunai and a shuriken,but there were still weapons coming after him. He threw hiskunai and shurikenat two other oncoming weapons deflecting them. Without another moments notice, Chichi opened his hands to catch another two weapons while at the same time spinning around throwing the handheld weapons back at Tenten hitting another pair of weapons. Chichi spun around in circles staying where he stood as he caughthalf of theweapons that Tenten threw and throwing them at the other half to have them fall onto the floor.

Now everyone was on the railings watching in awe how the fight was going, especially Team Gai.

"Unbelievable!" Lee shouted out not blinking fearing that he would miss something important, "His aim is perfectly equal with Tenten's. He is throwing back everything that she sends at him."

"He actually is better than your partner down there. You see, not only is he throwing with perfect accuracy, he is also catching the weapons all at the same. And to add on, if you haven't notice the point of collision..." Musuko replied.

"It's closer to Tenten than it is to your brother." Neji finished his sentence, "That means he is throwing them at a higher speed."

Musuko, crossing his arms, "Like he's been saying, she lacked speed. And that's what's going to cost her."

The throwing of the thousand assortments of weapons continued until finally the floor was completely littered with all of Tenten's weapons. She descended down to the arena floor huffing for air, while as Chichi stood there not showing anysigns of exhaustion at all. In his hand he still held one kunai which he then threw straight at Tenten thinking that it was the perfect opportunity to attack. But Tenten was not going down so easily, she dodged the kunai asit went flying by her and cutting a few strands of her hair. She turned back around to see Chichi still didn't move from his place. All of a sudden, he took a few steps back and croching down into a position that looked like he was going to start a race.

"This ends now." Chichi said. This instantly gave Tenten the signal to stand her guard and et ready for the assualt. She was then struck and sent rolling onto the ground towards the crouched Chichi.

Now in the center of the room, Tenten rubbed her head as she stood up from the surprise attack. Looking over, she saw Chichi still in his crouching position, still hadn't moved. _'What hit me?'_ her question was answered when she looked to where she was recently standing. At first she thought she must of been seeing the same side, but she then noticed the crack in the wall the kunai had made that cut her hair. It appeared that Chichi had created a Kage Bushin of himselfthen used a henge to change it into a kunai. WHen the kunai had landed behind her, she ignored it as it turned back into a Bushin and knocked her into the center.

Once she figured out how it was done, like Chichi said, it was over. Chichi and his clone both ran straight at Tenten in complete sync as they both threw a fist mirrored by the other right into Tenten's chin and sending her straight up into the air. The double punch was hard enough to send her higher than the second floor platforms that surrounded the room. As she went up, Chichi and his clone moved back a couple of yards then ran straight back into the center, but instead of colliding, the two made a ninety degree ascension and were going straight up right under Tenten's body. How this was possible was that Chichi and the clone were running upwards by using the others feet as their wall. Using his chakra control, Chichi was able to use his clone's feet as a wall and vice versa, making them able to run up into the air. As they reached Tenten, the two Chichis pushed away slightly with both shouting, "Kagami Rendan (Mirror Combo)!" they then spun around with their leg fully extended and both did a roundhouse kick into Tenten's gut, sending her flying downward into the statue of the ram seal. Hitting the tip of the statue, Tenten lied their as Chichi landed on the arena floor and his clone dispersed. Chichi then went running over to the statue as he saw thatthe kuniochiwas slipping off and would crash onto the ground. With a final leap he was able to catch the KO'd ninja bridal style in his arms.

Gekko walked out for the second time and rose his hand, "The winner is, Brother Chichi."

Tenten reawoken from the attack and saw Chichi was carrying her up the stairs. "Hey." Chichi looked down to see the girl's eyes partially open, "Good match. I'm proud that...I lost to you and not someone else." Chichi gave a smile and replied, "Thanks. And you did great yourself. Just...you need to improve on your speed." the two both then laughed a bitas they arrived to Lee and Neji. Chichi let Tenten down as she could stand now. He then gave a small bow and went back to his regular spot on the platform. Just then the next two names came up onto the screen:

Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji

A small gasp escaped from Hinata's mouth as she saw the names, "I...I have to go against, N-Neji?"

"Well this sucks." Kiba said under his breathe, "Hinata's no where near as strong as Neji is. I just hope he doesn't kill her, with his hate of the main branch, he's not going to hold back."

The two Hyuugas walked down in complete silence. As they approached each other on the arena floor, Hinata was literally shaking in her boots. Never had she thought that she would go up against her cousin, and now she was standing right in front of him waiting for the signal to start. She continued to shake which led to Neji's noticing. He smiled.

"Pathetic. Even before we start, I can see that you are going to lose. Not as if I needed to see that coming. You were always a loser your entire life and you will be one now. It is fate that made it so."

"N-No, I-I'm not a loser. No." Hinata's head was bowed down in shame as she tried to deny the truth that Neji said. A cry was then heard from the platform.

"Don't let him talk to you that way, Hinata!" they all turned to see that Naruto was leaning over the railing yelling at the top of his lungs, "Get in there and kick his sorry butt!"

"Yeah!" they now looked over seeing Chichi was now shouting, "Fate doesn't chose anything! Don't listen to that crap!"

Musuko snuffed as he heard Chichi shout out, "Looks like I'm not the only one too attached to the mission."

Gekko raised his arm once again, "Fighters ready? The seventh match of the exams, Begin!" Hinata got into a Jyuken stance as quickly as she could, but the stance was poorly executed and she continued to shake. All Neji did was stand there laughing at his cousin's useless effort.

"You're still gonna try to fight even thoug you know that you're going to lose? You're even more of a loser than I thought." the harsh insult hit the Hyuuga heiress hard and she lowered her stance and her head in shame. She knew she was no match against Neji, he was one of the best in the Jyuken style of fighting and he was in the branch house. And as for herself... she was a disgrace to her father. She didn't even complete her own Jyuken, and she was to go up against someone who exceeded everyone's expectations in it.

Just then a hand hit Hinata in the shoulder. Neji had attacked while Hinata's guard was down. "Just give up, Hinata. Fate has already decided the outcome of this match."

Hinata was holding her shoulder in pain, she could not feel anything in her left arm, Neji had cut the chakra circulation with his palm.

_'This isn't good. If he hits me again, I will lose.' _she looked up to see Naruto gripping the railing in front of him in anger, _'Naruto. You have always tried your best. No matter what happened, you always came through. And because of that you have always been my inspiration to become a ninja.'_ her eyes moved over to the gray haired ninja, Chichi, _'I've known you for three days, but it feels like I have known you for a much longer time. You saved me when didn't know me, you helped us pass the second part, you showed compassion and mercy to my entire team.' _Feeling was coming back to her arm as well as something else. Neji sensed something also, not knowing what was going on, he moved back into his Jyuken stance. _'And for you two and your kindness, strength, and determination...' _a blue aura surrounded her as she stood erect infront of her cousin, _'I will fight. I will fight Neji, until I can't anymore. I don't care if I lose, as long as I can prove to myself that I am truly a ninja. To my team, to my father, to Naruto, to Chichi.'_

With that final thought, the blue aura completely surrounded her. Going into her Jyuken form, she rushed towards Neji with incredible speed. Neji did not expect Hinata to be that fast as he placed up his arms to block the Hyuuga heiress' hits. With each strike, Neji slid back more and more. One more shot at the arms from Hinata, and this time she used a chakra burst that sent Neji back another three feet. Hinata jumped back giving the branch Hyuuga at chance to breathe. Neji was standing there with his guard up taking deep breathes.

"Where did this chakra come from? She did 't have anything close to this when I struck her. It must be from that blue aura surrounding her. No matter." Neji went into a counter stance, "Fate has already proclaimed the victor."

"Amazing." Chichi said with a smile on his face as he watch what had just happened. "She's accomplished the first stage of the Tenyomon (Heaven Gates)."

Neji now made the move on Hinata by charging at her. Throwing in an open palm, Hinata moved to the side dodging the attack and shooting her own palm at her opponent which successfully struck him in the shoulder. Neji slid backwards for a second time now holding his shoulder in pain. Hinata returned to her fighting stance to continue the fight. Neji saw that Hinata was not going to quit anytime soon. Brushing his shoulder, Neji smiled and spoke to his cousin.

"Looks like I have under estimatimated you, Hinata. But that's all about to change." in the next second, Neji ahd activated his Byakugan and moved back into his Jyuken stance. Seeing the Byakugan activated, Hinata in return also activated hers.

The second the two activated their dojutsus, they charged each other as fast as they could. When they met up with each other, they began an intense flurry of hands and feet swinging around each other just missing each other by mere inches. With each strike, the two cousins got faster and faster with their moves and dodges making it almost impossible for any of the genin to see their movements clearly.

"Incredible." Kurenai said staring at her student. "How on earth did she get this fast?"

"She has changed alot during the forest part of the exam. She has found inspiration to fight." Shino said.

"You mean other than what she usually has as inspiration, heh." Kiba said chokingly knowing Hinata's crush.

"Something tells me that her inspiration is the one who we had met constantly _in_ the forest." Shino exclaimed. Kiba looked confused at first, but with time he understood what his buggy team mate was talking about.

The Hyuugas were now just a big blur as they have now been moving faster than either had before. Just then, it all ended. Both stopped in their current positions. Hinata stood with her aura and her right hand just inches away from Neji's forehead. Why she was only inches away instead of fully touching his head, was because of where Neji was. He was crouching down making his head perfectly level with Hinata's arm. With his right arm extended, his hand reached out and had hit Hinata's chest, right where her heart was located. The blue aura slowly faded away while Neji stepped back to see his cousin fall to the ground on her face. She started coughing up loads of blood. Neji's final strike was chakra enduced and pierced through her heart and left lung, it was a miracle in itself that she was still breathing.

"I believe this match is over." Neji looked at Gekko for the verdict. Gekko nodded as he then raised his hand, "The winner is, Neji." without another thought, Naruto jumped down from the upper floor. He ran as fast as he could toward Hinata's motionless body. When he reached it, he started shaking her furiously.

"Hinata! Are you alright? Come on, answer me!" he finally got a moan from the heiress and then her eyes opening.

"N-Naruto?" she said very quietly. "C-Chichi?" Naruto turned around to see Chichi standing up on the 2nd floor with a concerned look on his face. Naruto turned back to Hinata who now had her eyes closed again but now had a faint smile on her face.

"Hinata? Hinata!" Naruto yelled. The medics rushed in to the kuniochi's aide carrying her away in a stretcher. When she was gone, Neji and Naruto were the ones left on the arena floor. "You. Why did you do that? She's your cousin for crying out loud!"

Neji maintained his calmness as he spoke, "Fate has decided that she is not worthy, now fate will decide if she is worthy to live."

"You and your fate. That's all you care about. Well mark my words." Naruto then dips his fingers in the blood that Hinata had cuoughed up. Clentching his fist, he now spoke with sincerity in his voice, "I will make you pay for this. Believe it."

"Hmph, I'm looking forward to seeing that. But fate has already deemed you to lose as well." he then turned around and went up the stairs to meet with his team and angered sensei, "Neji, I told you not to go against with anger of the families. And you go and almost kill her, if it wasn't for that blue aura she would have been." Neji just stood there quietly not taking in any of what his sensei was telling him.

Musuko stood where he was watching the Hyuuga girl be carried off, "She doesn't look like she's going to last long."

Chichi ran over to Seirei with his concern look still on him. Seirei knew what he was going to ask for. With his nose deep in his book, Seirei heard the foot steps of his brother. "Brother Seirei, please tell me we can." Seirei moved his eyes to see Chichi about to get on his knees and beg. Returning to his book, Seirei flipped the page and read some more. Finally, he gave his brother a nod which sent Chichi running to his white haired brother and whispering into his ear. Musuko was reluctant, but he went off with Chichi through the same door the medics went through. When they vanished from th fighting room, the screen lit up and showed to next two names:

Brother Seirei vs. Temari

With another flip of his page, Seirei closed his book with a huff and jumped down to the arena floor. Temari did the same and the two met at the center of the floor. Gekko approached once more, seeing the two ready, "The eighth match, Begin!"

Seirei walked away from where he stood slowly. Temari had her guard ready, wondering what her opponent was up to. Seirei stopped a few yards away from where he was and pulled out his enormous sword from his back. Now Temari had her hand on the giant metal bar on her back ready to fight. Seirei lowered the tip off his sword to the ground, and with a small tap, just a tap, he created a crater a foot deep. Once he made the crater, he walked back to where he previously stood.

"You don't mind if I do this first do you?" another tap on the ground, this the ball at the base of his sword slid down along the gap in the middle and landed on the ground. Placing the blade next to the ball, Seirei moved into...a golfer stance??

"Here is Brother Seirei on the eighteenth green of the Konoha Open, par 5. He is twenty feet away from the hole and needs to sink this putt not only to obtain an eagle, but to also win the highly coveted blue jacket. And here's the putt." Seirei pulls back his sword ever so slightly, then without warning, he pulls the sword all the way back and hits the ball with all his strength. The ball flew completely pass the hole that its master was aiming for. It instead strck the wall with intense force and ricochetted off to another wall, then hitting the ceilng, then the floor, then another wall, the ball bounced off every surface that it touched and didn't plan on stopping for anyone. Just then, the ball bounced off a wall and headed straight towards Temari at incredibly high speeds. Teamri had no time to dodge it and was struck by the blue ball, kind of. Temari had not felt the ball as it did not hit her but instead went straight through her entire body and went to the wall that it was directed at.

Temari turned around to see the ball had no effect on her. and that the ball finally landed on the ground and began to, you guessed it, the hole that Seirei was actually aiming for.

"Yes! Yes! Seirei did it, he has won the jacket and the title! The crowd is going wild for the miraculous shot!" Seirei is swinging his arms inthe air for the imaginary victory. Meanwhile, everyone else is just staring at him and thinking why on earth he is doing this. "Now then." he went over to his ball and placed it in the gap of his sword where it was before. "Shall we begin?" the black haired sky ninja now had on a serious face and was in a battle ready position. Temari also gave a faint smile as she grabbed onto her own weapon.

"Let's finish this quickly." Temari pulled out the jet black piece of metal from behind her and held it in both of her hands. And with that, Seirei came right at her with his giant blade.

He made full contact wih the metal object in Temari's hands and retreated to perform another lunge attack. The same outcome occured. After a few more tries from the left, right, and the back, Seirei stopped the assualt.

"I guess it's my turn now."

"By all means, ladies next." Seirei gives a gentleman's bow. And with that, Temari unflods her metal bar to reveal that it's a fan that rivaled the size of his own sword.

"With pleasure." she swung the fan across her body creating large gusts of winds that went right at Seirei. All Seirei did was smile and place his sword up so that the edge was facing the wind. As the winfd hit his sword, it split in twain and went around him leaving no injury.

When the winds died out, Temari was shocked to see that nothing had happened to her opponent.

"A little shocked are you?" Temari did not respond, she was still trying to figure out how he manuever her wind attack. No ordinary sword could have cut through the wind, only one that... "Still confused? Well let me explain then. The ball that went through you during my putting practice. It actually took some of your signature chakra, which would be your ability to manipulate the wind. Once the ball returned to my sword, I was able to manipulate wind as well. So if you excuse me." he then swung his sword just like Temari did with her and fan and this time the winds flew out at Temari.

The winds lifted her up, but she used her fan as a platform as to keep control of her position in the typhoon. As she stood on her fan she thought, _'So he can now use my wind jutsus. Still, he probably hasn't mastered that. Also, I think he left out one thing. He only has a limited anount of my chakra in that ball of his. So as long as I stay out of range from his sword, the chakra should wear of-'_ she heard a ripping noise coming from beneath her. When she looked down she saw Seirei's blade coming through the fan. Temari's eyes went wide as she then saw Seirei following behind his sword. Temari dodged the sword coming out of the fan, but Seirei was not aiming on attack then. But now that he was on the fan himself, he lashed out his sword at Temari.

Temari had nowhere to move lest she be taken away by the wind currents around her. She was only able to move to the side a bit so that the sword wouldn't hit vitals. The sword came down and cut off Temari's left arm right at the shoulder. She cried out in pain as the blood began poruing out of her side.

The winds died out and Temari was lying down unconscious on her torn fan with her arm on the other side of the room.

"You are so lucky, woman." Seirei said looking down at the body. She started twitching signalin that she was still alive.

* * *

  
(In the medical room)

"Come on men!" four doctors were surrounding a bed. A bed which held their worst patient yet to come into the infirmary. Hinata.

A nurse who was looking at a screen analyzing the Hyugga's heart shouted, "Her heart rate is decreasing fast!"

"Get the defibulators just in case nurse." she nodded and went to retreive said item, "Ok guys. Focus on her the area surrounding her heart." they all shouted out 'Hai' as green chakra surrounded their own hands, they then placed the hands on the heiress' chest and try to stop the bleeding from her heart. Just then...

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-beep--beep--beep--beep--beeeeeeeeeeeeee

"NURSE!" the nurse came rushing in with the defibulator and handed it to the doctor without question. They removed Hinata's shirt so that nothing was in there way when they revied her. Rubbing the defibs together, the doctor cried, "Clear!" Hinata's body gave a small jump from the shock.

beep--beep--beep--beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

"Clear!" another shock to the heart.

beep--beep--beeeeeeeeeeeee

"One more time. Clear!" her body jumped once more.

beep--beep-beep--beeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The doctors all backed away from the motionless body of Hinata with heads bowed down. "We did all we could for her. TOD nurse?"

"Not today." the nurse say this, instead two boys bursted through the doors, one with white hair and the other with grey, "Please leave. We'll deal with this."

"Boys. I know how hard it is to lose someone. But there is nothing you can do, she is-"

"I said, please leave." killer intent spewes out of the grey haired boy. This was enough motivation for the doctors and nurses to flee the room. When the three were alone. Musuko turned to his brother.

"You ready?"

"Definetly." both of their left arms now had some sort of black substance crawling out of the palms of their hands and up their arms. Once it reached to their elbows, it began to glow a pure green with black markings on it.

* * *

(Back at the arena floor)

"The winner, Seirei." Gekko anounced. Once Gekoo went quiet, Seirei ran as fast as he could to Temari's arm. He grabbed it as the same black substance went up his arm like his brothers. The substance began to glow as he went towards Temari's still bleeding body.

Kankuro saw this and lept down to the floor in between his sister and Seirei. "You stay away from her." he stretched out his arms to become an obstacle. Seirei didn't stop as he swung his arm right into Kankuro's side sending him flying right across the floor rolling.

"You lucky lucky woman." Seirei said a bit aggrivated. He then placed the arm right next to the wind mistress.

"Tenton: Tenshite!(Heaven Style: Angel Hand)"

* * *

"Tenton: Tenshite!" Chichi and Musuko shouted at once as their hands slammed down onto Hinata's chest. A bright light illuminated the entire room making it impossible to see anything.

* * *

When the light disappeared from Temari and Seirei. Temari slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was her opponent stnading above her putting his sword back onto his back. Looking to her left, she then saw that her left arm was attached to her, the pool of blood that had been from her arm had disappeared, and the pain was gone. She looked back at Seirei who was now walking away to the stairs.

"Wait!" Temari shouted out to the black haired shinobi who in turn stopped to listen, "Why did you save me?"

A long pause fell between the two as Seirei tried to think of an answer, a sigh then came out of his mouth and he said, "It's not your time." and he continued going up the stairs leaving a confused kuniochi to pick up her KO'd brother off of the ground.

* * *

BEEP--BEEP--BEEP

That was the sound of Hinata's screen. The two sky brothers left the room informing the doctors not to enter the room until the prelims were over.

As the two walked down the hallway back to the main room, Musuko spoke.

"Well. Guess that's a bit more than you wanted to see from her huh?"

"Shut up. You know as well as I that Seirei said that we needed to do it."

"Yeah yeah, 'It wasn't her time' you just be lucky that it wasn't. Otherwise you'd be bummed out for the rest of this mission."

"Why do you say that, Brother?"

"It's really obvious that you care for her."

"And it's also obvious that you care for that pink haired kuniochi as well." a small pause between the two.

"So the only one who hasn't gotten attached to anyone would be mister Seirei."

"Bet you a months worth of lunch that he finds some one before the mission's over." Chichi wagered.

"Deal. But he has to kiss her. None of this holding hands crap."

"Oh you mean like that kiss you gave to Sakura that night?"

"You said you were back at the hotel!"

"I lied. Simple as that."

The two then entered back into the arena to see Seirei was still up where he was when they left. They returned to their usual spots. They were each greeted by either Ino, or Tenten. (of course, dang ladies men)

"Hey Chichi." said person turned to the blonde kuniochi, "Where did you go to? You missed your brothers fight."

"Let's just say that I needed to visit someone in the infirmary. You said that my brother fought. Who did he fight?" Chichi asked. Ino pointed to the wind mistress of Suna, "She doesn't have a scratch on her. How did my brother win?"

"He used her wind juts- HEY! How do you know that he won in the first place?!"

"Trust me, there was no doubt he would. So he used her jutsu you were saying."

Ino nodded and continued, "Well he flung winds at her, then he went into the curretn and cut her fan and then he cut off her entire left arm. Once the official declared hi the winner, he ran for the arm and reattached it to the girl's body with this weird glowing stuff on his arm." Chichi's eyes narrowed, he looked over to Seirei in shock, then with a smile, "Looks like I might lose that bet." tyhe grey haired brother said to himself.

* * *

**And now to fast forward through this next fight. Why you all might ask, well because this is the battle between Lee and Gaara. Even though this is my most favorite battle in all the exams, I am not going to write the entire thing as all of you should also know what goes on. If anyone doesn't, stop your reading now and try to find the episode somewhere. Anyways, time to press the fast forward button. Here we go.**

* * *

And so, now that everyone had finally fought, the prelims had came to an end. Gekko appeared for the last time, "Now that we are officially finished with the prelims, I am to announce that the finals for the third part of the chunin exams will be held in one month. So all finalists have thirty days to train and condition for their opponents. The opponents will be:

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji

Nara Shikamaru vs. Brother Seirei

Brother Chichi vs. Uchiha Sasuke

Brother Musuko vs. Gaara

Yamanaka Ino vs. Kankuro

"You now know who you will be going against in the first round. Remember, these will be the matches that will decide if you are to be a chunin or not. You are all dismissed. See you all in a month." and with that, Gekko disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving all the genins with their jounin teachers. They all rejoined with their senseis, all except for the Sky Ninja.

"Hey!" Naruto caught the attention of the three mystery ninja, "Where's your sensei, I'd like to see who taught you guys all that stuff."

"Yes, so would I." Sasuke approached from behind his orange suit team mate. "Me too." Neji came from the other direction followed by his other team mates. Eventually, the sky ninjas were suurounded by genin, and also a few jounin sensei. To stop more from coming, Chichi answered them.

"Sorry, but out sensei could not come to the exams. She's...busy."

"No teacher is too busy to see their students fight in such an exam. Right Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted out with a enormous grin. The Sky Ninjas stepped away from the green shinobi.

"Yeah," Neji said actually agreeing with his team mate, "your sensei must be a real weak-gwahk!" his insult was cut short as he was now being strangled by the hands of Seirei.

"One, you ever insult our sensei again, you will be breathing through a bamboo stick up your butt. Two, usually a kage has other things to than to just watch her students participate in this so called exam." he then drops the silver eyed shinobi and walked away without another word.

Neji recollected himself from the ground and started rubbing his neck. Everyone around him were left speechless for their own reasons. Some were surprised that the Sky Ninja's sensei was actually their villages Kage, others were shocked that one of them had the nerve to stand up to Neji, and others were just looking at them with that horrible look that most men fear; the dreaded fangirl stare.

Once the three ninja were completely out of sight, a familiar voice was heard from behind the group. "H-Hey guys. What are you looking at?" everyone turns around to see that Hinata was standing up perfectly and was looking better than ever.

"Hinata!" Kiba came right at her and embraced his fellow team mate, "You're alright. I thought for sure you were a goner!"

"She should be." Shino said, "Neji had a direct hit at her heart, she should be dead, no matter how many medics it took."

"Well it doesn't matter now!" Naruto bursted out with a grin, "She's fine and that's all that matters." both Kiba and Naruto now have Hinata in a headlock. Once Hinata realized that both she was being touched by Naruto and that the fact that the headlock was cutting oxygen to her head, she fainted. "Hinata? You all right? Hinata?"

"Not again." Kiba moaned.

* * *

With the three brothers. They were now back at there apartment discussing specific manners.

"So who were the best fighters in your opinions?"

"Shino. Even though he lost, he was a shinobi with decent fighting skills as well as strategy. He would have with anyone else if he didn't go up against Shikamaru."

"That ninja would be the better of them all. He may seem lazy to you Chichi. But as we can see, he is very capable. Give him motivation and he's good to go."

"What about you Chichi?" "Chichi?"

"Hmm. Sorry, I was just thinking."

"Was it about something in particular...or someone?"

"You know me too well brother. Yes, I was thinking of Hinata."

"Yes. She was a special case indeed. Most people who die usually are meant to."

"Not to mention she had managed to open the first of the gates. Only you have been able to do that out of the three of us, right Chichi?"

"Correct. That's why I was thinking."

"Thinking of what? Dare I ask."

"I think I could...train her."

"Are you sure that is safe? What about the mission?"

"The mission says nothing about us teaching. We are here until the mission is over. Might as well make the best of it."

"...Very well. You may teach her. But if things turn out for the worst, it'll be on your head."

"In that case."

"Yes Musuko."

"I'd like to help train one of the shinobi."

"Let me guess. The Jinchurikki."

"He has true potential. Given the right opportunities, he could be a very worthy ally to us."

"He's also a bit different from most Jinchurikki that I've seen. He's all happy, usually their kind are hated by others or feared by their unknown power."

"Then it's settled. You two will train with the Hyuuga and jinchurikki, while I train by myself. And possibly look for that grass ninja that gave Sasuke that mark."

"That thing can get out of hand if he doesn't take it under control."

"I fear it's something bigger than that."

* * *

**Well Well. It seems some certain ninja are getting to be trained by these mysterioius Sky Ninja. Also, what are these new 'Gates'? And what about the brothers saying that it's something bigger. The only way to find out is by continuing to read the fic. But until then, I'm out like a light.**


	9. Training

Another fabulous chapter of **Sky Ninja **is finally up.

Dedication goes to no one as sadly there had been no new reviews.

**disclaimer: don't own the awesome orange ninja. but i do own something that is orange. :)**

* * *

_We last left off with the prelims over at last. Now the remaining ninjas who had passed are to now train for the next 30 days. This is the 30 days._

The alarm clock went off in Naruto's room.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEE-ZZZZT . . . . the clock was found on the ground with a kunai through it.

"When is Kakashi-sensei gonna learn?" the sleepy head sat up in his bed, stretching his arms and releasing a massive yawn from his mouth. "Well. Gotta get to the trainig grounds." Naruto then performed his ritual morning routine and was finally ready after a half an hour or so. He knew he was going to be late, but then again he also knew...so was his teacher.

Taking his swell time across the village, Naruto stopped as he saw a blur run over the rooftops, slowly being followed by another.

"Heh, must be in some kind of a hurry those two are." chuckling a bit, Naruto continued his way until he had reached the bridge. Where he stood waiting on the side of the wooden structure.

He waited, and waited...and waited.

Naruto then realized that this was taking too long. Even for Kakashi. Being a bit worried, Naruto started searching the village until he found either his team mates or his sensei. And after ten long minutes of roof hopping, he did. There was Kakashi sitting at a food stand about to take a bite of some yummy dango. His hand was on his mask when,

"Hey! Kakashi!" Kakashi lowered his hand (A/N:dang it! so had that planned. way to go naruto!) and looked over to see one of his students coming right at him. _'Oh boy.'_ Naruto stood right in front of him and began ranting.

"Why weren't you at the training grounds?! I thought we had to train! What you think that I can't do it?! Do you?! Well let me tell you something, I don't care what you say, you're going to train me no matter how much you're going to hate it!" a heavy sigh came from the one-eyed ninja as he placed his hand on his forehead.

"Naruto. The reason I wasn't there, was because I'm not training you for this month." Naruto's mouth dropped, "I'm training Sasuke." the mouth dropped right down to the ground.

"B-But why can't you train both of us?" Naruto basically now having tears running down his face.

"Don't worry Naruto. I have assigned you another teacher that can help you out." Kakashi gave his eye smile, hoping that would cheer him up. It didn't.

"WHAT?! You think you can just shove me off to another sensei just like that?! Who gave you the right anyways?!" Naruto was now steaming out the ears ready to take Kakashi out.

"The _Hokage_ said I could." the steam went away as Naruto knew he had no power over the Hokage.

_'Curse you old man.'_ giving a sigh like Kakahi's before, Naruto reluctantly replied, "Where's my sensei at?"

"I'm glad you could come around Naruto. He is to meet you at Training Ground 7 in about half an hour." with his head slumped down, Naruto takes his slow walk of shame to where he just was ten minutes ago.

* * *

(Half an hour later)

Naruto crosses the bridge to his ususal training ground with his head still hanging. But before he could raise his head, a voice was then heard from his left.

"You're late." Looking to his left, he saw probably the last person that he could of thought of that would be training him.

"Hey. You're that Sky Ninja kid. What are you doing hear?" Naruto now had a confused look on his face.

"Didn't your sensei tell you? He asked me personally to help you out for the finals." Musuko said as he walked away from the tree he was resting on.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course it's not like he'd have you train with that Ebisu guy right?"

"Heh, yeah, I guess you're right." Naruto smiled grabbing the back of his head.

* * *

We then find Ebisu struggling for life as he is tied up with duck tape across his mouth hanging upside-down from a tree branch.

* * *

"Anyways. Um...how should we begin?" asked Musuko to his new student.

"Well, Kakashi had us say our names, likes and dislikes, our dreams, and our hobbies." Naruto replied.

"Ok, You go first."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like ramen and trainig.My hobbies are cooking ramen and eating it. I dislike the time it takes to make ramen, and perverts. My dreams are to become Hokage and defend those that I care about."

"So, I'm guessing you like ramen, alot. Alrighty then, my turn. My name is Brother Musuko, my hobbies are making up new ways to impress or surprise my opponents. I like my way of fighting as it hasn't failed me yet, and my custom-made senbon bands. My dislikes...I don't like talking about them. And my dream is...hmm, what is my dream. I guess I don't really know."

"Don't worry, you did a whole lot better than Kakashi or even my other team mates." Naruto then took Musuko through all the things that the three had said. And at the end, Musuko had his head down in shame.

"So, Sasuke's a power hungry avenger, great, Kakashi's just an unknown to you guys, and Sakura," he paused for the moment, "she's a fangirl to the avenger."_ 'Ah crap. This is going to be tougher for me than I thought. But this info on the Uchiha boy would be useful for Brother Seirei.'_

Musuko lost his train of thought when Naruto blurted out, "So. What are we going to learn first."

A smile crawls onto the white-haired ninja's face, "Oh you'll see soon enough. But first, let's see what you got." Musuko moves into a fighting stance, as does Naruto.

* * *

(Hyuuga Compound)

Around the same time that Naruto was waiting on the bridge, Hinata, who had just recovered from a serious heart injury by some miracle, was practicing her Jyuuken. But what she was actually doing that no one realized, was that she was trying to obtain that strange feeling that she did when she had fought her cousin in the prelims. She had tried everything from training with her team mates to using almost all of her chakra into her attacks. But alas, she failed in every way.

She was in the middle of her Jyukken attack when her father came out of the door behind her.

"Hinata." she stopped what she was doing and turned to her father. "I need you to go into the village and deliver this message to the Hokage."

With a bow, "Yes, father." the Hyuuga heiress took the note and left the compound to the Hokage Tower. As she left, Neji entered and walked down to his uncle. Who was now looking at his daughter walking out the entrance.

"Is something wrong?" Neji asked, "Are you still worried about my attack on her? She has fully recovered from it." he said insensitively.

"No. But I am very angry still." he went quite until Hinata left his sight, "It's the unusual chakra that she obtained that the Hokage told me about."

"What so great about that?"

With a huff of air, he turned around and headed back into the house, "I'll tell you when you are ready for it."

* * *

Hinata was coming back from the Hokage Tower, when suddenly.

GRGGLE GRGGLE GRGGLE! her stomached roared out.

She looked around for a place to eat, and laid her eyes on a Dango shop. Running into it, she sat at the bar part of the shop and placed an order. The chef nodded his head and went into the back where the kitchen was. After awhile, the chef returned with a plate and a dango on it.

"Uh thank you sir." Hinata was about to dig in when,

"Make that another dango sir. On me." Hinata turned around, it was Chichi coming into the store and sitting down right next to her.

"Uh thank you, but I can pay for it. You don't need to."

"Ah, but I'd like to. Plus I'd like to talk with you for awhile." the chef left once again to make another plate of dango.

"Um. I have to go, now. My father will be wondering where I am." she takes the dango from her plate and starts to leave the shop.

"The chakra hasn't come back yet has it?" Hinata stopped dead in her tracks, "You still haven't gotten that strange feeling that you get when it happens." Chichi remained facing the other way as Hinata turned around shocked.

"H-how did you-"

"I've been there before. But if you want to know how to get that feeling again, you have to stay and eat with me first." he turned to her with a smile on his face. This then won a smile on her face and her coming back to her seat and the two ate together.

* * *

Back with Naruto and Musuko, the orange ninja was down on one knee gasping for air and eyes wide opened.

"I told you. I like to surprise my opponents." Musuko said walking up to his student.

"That's amazing! How are you still a genin?"

"The standards are really high in my village. And besides, I wanted to take the exams here." stretching out a bit. Musuko gave Naruto enough time to catch his breathe again. "Now, we get to do some new things. Since I now know what you are mostly capable of-"

"Mostly? I was giving it my all in that fight!"

"Believe me, I think you can do much more than that. We just have to help you along in it." pausing for a moment, "So have you heard of tree climbing."

"Oh don't get me started. Kakashi-sensei had us do that on our mission to the Wave Country."

"Did you pass?"

"Of course I did. I'm training to become the Hokage someday."

"Good. Because I didn't want to go that basic in our training. Come with me to the river." the sky ninja turned and went towards the water area of the grounds with Naruto follwing right behind him.

"What are we doing here, Musuko?"

"First, you are to refer to your _teacher_ as sensei. Second, we are here to learn chakra control. Since you have already learned to climb trees without using your feet, it means that you have some knowledge of this skill already. But now, we will put this skill to the test." Musuko jumps across the river and lands on the other side, "Come to me." Naruto gets into a crouched position getting ready to jump but is then stopped, without jumping over the river. Or swimming it, if that's what you were thinking next. You have to walk across."

"What?" was all Naruto said.

Musuko then explained, "In your tree climbing lesson. You learned to emit chakra from your feet to keep you standing on the tree. Now you must do the same thing here. The only difference is that unlike the trees around here, the water is always moving and changing. So then this means that you have to continue letting out chakra to not only keep you standing ontop of the surface, but you have to keep a specific amount of it. Too much and you'll launch off the water. Too little, and you'll sink to the bottom. Now, begin crossing." Naruto nodded and began his training.

The first step he made, he placed in enough chakra and his foot only sank about an inch, but it still remained above the water. The next step he took, the foot went a bit deeper. Naruto tried to put in only a small amount of chakra, but he thought was small was not small at all to the lesson. His foot jumped out of the water. Taking concentration away from his training, his other foot lost its chakra it had and Naruto landed in the water on his back.

Naruto swam out to the edge of the river still on the other side of where Musuko was. Naruto sried off his clothes as best as he could and was about to go back into the river for another try.

"No. It's ok. I just wanted to see how far you could get. We will go on to the next lesson now. But next time we do this, bring your swimsuit." Naruto was a bit irked that he couldn't do the water walking exerecise again, but he had to listen to his new sensei and besides, Musuko was going to teach him some new things.

* * *

"Well that was a lovely meal. Don't you think so Hinata?" Chichi asked as the two walked down to training ground 8. Hinata nodded with a smile but remained quiet as the two continued walking. "You're quite the shy one aren't you? Not a very common thing in a ninja." the Hyuuga lowers her head in shame. "No no. It's not a bad thing. We just have to get the shyness out. And I think that will happen during our training." Hinata then stops were she is as Chichi continues walking a few more steps, "Is something wrong?"

A small blush comes onto Hinata's face, "I-It's just that ... I hardly even know you, and you talk to me as if you've been with me for years."

"I'm a very friendly person. I talk like I know everyone, you'll get used to it. Now come on, your team isn't going to be back for two hours, that's enough time to start." He starts running off to the grounds. But Hinata remains sstanding with a smile slowly crawling up her face. Chichi stops running and turns around with an even bigger smile and a feeling of embarrasment, "Yeah, that's right, I don't know where it is." a small chuckle came from both of them, and the two continued on their way to the training grounds.

* * *

"Alright, Naruto." Musuko said sticking his hand in his back pocket, "I've got something here that will help us out in your training." he then pulled out a piece of paper and ashowed it to his orange suited student.

"What is that." Naruto said looking at it really close. He thought it was going to be some kind of awesome new jutsu, go figure.

"This is chakra paper. Now what you do with this is insert just a small amount of your chakra into the paper. The paper will then react to the chakra in a specific way depending on your chakra element. This will then show me what element jutsus you can do and will help the trainig moving along." Musuko then hands the paper over to Naruto. "Go ahead, give it a try."

Naruto took the paper into his hands giving it a look over. Finally, Naruto concerntrated his chakra into the paper. Just as he did, the paper reacted. Down the center of the piece of chakra paper, it began to split in two, it continued splitting until the entire paper was cut and flew out of into different directions. Naruto was a bit surprised, but was confused as to what it meant.

"Well, that kinda stinks." Musuko said watching the paper fall.

"What does it mean?"

"It means that your element is wind. And it stinks because I don't that many wind jutsus as the other elements. Don't worry, I can still train you a good months worth."

"So then that means that we will be learning new jutsus?" Musuko repled to the question with a silent nod and a smile. "Yes!" Naruto jumped for joy, thinking of all the possible jutsus he could learn. But then Musuko noticed something else on the chakra paper. One of the corners was charred.

Picking up the piece, Musuko said, "It seems that you have a fire element as well." _'Looks like someone was trying to put in their say in the training.'_ "Well Naruto, seems we'll also get to learn some fire jutsus as well. You're going to have a fun time this month, believe me."

* * *

Hinata and Chichi finally arrived at the training grounds laughing for an unknown reason.

"So-So Akamaru accidently (laughter) accidently thought that Shino's leg was...was a" Chichi couldn't help but laughing.

"Yep, Shino had disguised himself so perfectly in our test, and Akamaru had to go, so." Hinata was smiling with a small blush on her face. She had never seen anyone laugh this hard since Kiba when he found out what his dog did. "We're here."

The two stopped next to a large tree overlooking a small pond.

"Lovely place you got here."

"Yes, I usely come here to relax if I'm not training."

"Well right now, we're training. Let's begin." Chichi got into a fighting stance.

"Wait."

"Yes, Hinata?"

"I-I'd like to know what that feeling was. I know it had something to do with my chakra, so it's some sort of jutsu. And you said you have felt it before, so then you know what it is." Chichi got out of his stance and smiled.

"You might want to sit down, this will take awhile." Hinata nodded and sat down leaning against the tree. "Did anyone tell of Lee's fight against Gaara?"

The Hyuuga nodded, "Kiba did. He said that Lee went incredibly fast after opening some sort of chakra gate." thinking it over, "Is that what I did?"

"Sort of. The gates that Lee opened in his fight were five of the eight celestial gates. They provide one with an enormous supply of chakra by removing the filters in ones chakra system. But with this kind of new strength, there would be no doubt that it would have some bad side effects to it. You feel intense pain from the overuse of chakra in your system. Sometimes the chakra pain is so great that it can even kill you. But that is only when one opens the eighth and final gate." Hinata became worried about the whole side effects, "Now don't worry Hinata. You didn't open any of the celestial gates. What you actually did was open what is called, the Tenyomon.

"The Tenyomon is quite similar to the gates before as they supply the user with an enourmous amount of chakra. but that's where the similarities end. The gates do much more things. Unlike the celestial gates, they do not have any side effects. You could not notice as, well, you got shot through the heart, and survived miraculously. Anyways, the heaven gates are also not easy to activate, you can't just focus on your chakra system and open it up like Lee did. As a matter of fact, you're not supposed to concentrate on your system at all. The gates are activated in a certain way, each different for the user. For me, it's activated by pentance, giving up my own life for another. Now what we need to do is to find out what activate yours." this made Hinata think through what she did during her fight with Neji.

Then she put her hand to her mouth and blushed a bit. "Something wrong?"

"I-I think I-I found out wh-what activated i-it." Hinata stuttering though her words.

"Great, what did you do?" the blush grew on Hinata's face. "Hinata? You all right? It looks like you're coming down with a fever or something."

"N-no, it's just." a really long pause came between the two ninjas, "You won't laugh, promise?" Chichi nodded in a confused manner, the blush grew, "I-I was thinking a-about...Naruto."

Chichi's eyes opened up, "Oh. How were you thinking of him?" a smile rolled onto his face, this only did one thing to Hinata. It made her faint. "Well, I guess I know how."

* * *

We find Seirei minding his own business as he sat on the top of the Hokage Monument right above the Third's head. He looked down upon the village, thinking.

_'My brothers. So caught up in this village. We're gonna have a hard time leaving here now.'_ and with that, he took out his book and began reading. But he didn't get far as he heard a rustling behind him. He grabbed the handle of the sword on his back and turned to greet the intruder. He stopped as he saw who it was.

"Hello, Seirei." a feminine voice was made from the intruder.

Seirei, letting go of his weapon, "Hello to you too. What brings you here. Temari." the wind mistress came out into the clearing.

"Ah, you remebered my name. I'm surprised that you did, with how fast you finished the match."

"What do you want?" Seirei said straight forward, not beating around the bush.

This tone of voice for some reason knocked Temari's tough face completely of and became almost sad. She answered the sky ninja, "I just came to say, Thank You. For saving my life." Seirei turned around and faced the village once again.

"Like I said before, 'It wasn't your time.'" just as he was about to open his book again, he felt something wrap around his body. He turned his head around to see that Temari had wrapped her arms around him in a hug. They stood like this for a few seconds and then Temari repeated, "Thank you." she released the black haired shinobi and left the way she entered. Seirei was left standing where he was completely dumbfounded.

_'Seems this village has caught up with me now. Great.'_ he goes back to his book and reads through the pages.

However, off in the bushes, a wooden head has been peeping out of the brush.

It returns into the bushes not to be seen again.

* * *

"Ok, the first thing that we're going to do, is to learn a wind jutsu." Naruto becme excited, "First, run to that tree as fast as you can." Musuko said pointing to a tree about 50 yards away. Naruto complied and dashed as fast as he could to the tree. Naruto reached the tree in about ten seconds, and once he reached it, Musuko shouted over to him, "Too slow. Run back, only faster." Naruto did as he was told and dashed as fast as he could to Musuko. When he arrived he was gasping for air. This time it took him 9 seconds. "Good job, one second less. But do you know why?"

"Because I went faster." Naruto said irritated.

"No. You went the same pace as you did before." Naruto became confused, Musuko continued, "Notice where the wind is blowing. The wind is blowing towards us from where that tree is. So as a result, you ran faster with the wind on your back. Like a ship at sea. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, now all I have to do is run at my opponent where ever the wind is blowing which then means that I can only run in one direction." Naruto said sarcastically.

"Not if you have a wind element." Naruto's head shot up at hearing this, "You see Naruto, the wind can be easily manipulated, and when you manipulate that wind to blow right behind you, you're speed will increase. Right now the wind is going at about 5 miles an hour. But once you've mastered this jutsu, you'll be able to let it go over one hundred. This jutsu is known as Fuuton: Taifuu Kasoku (Wind Style: Typhoon Acceleration)" stars glimmered in Naruto's eyes, he thought of how fast he could go with this new jutsu. He could go as fast as Lee without even opening the gates! "Don't get your hopes up." the stars went away, "This jutsu took me quite awhile to master as it was not my strongest element. But since it seems that your's is, it should take maybe a month and a half, maybe two."

"Then what's the point of teaching me the jutsu if it doesn't help me in the finals!"

"There will be other chunin exams. And besides, you don't have to master the jutsu to use it. Yes there might still be flaws when you use it, but you will be much faster with it than without it. Now." Musuko sits down in an indian position, "Sit down."

"Why." Naruto asks as he too sits down in the same position.

"My sensei taught me, 'If you are too perform elemental jutsus, you should understand what they are. ONly then can one truly master his or her element.' Close your eyes, and feel the wind blow against you." Naruto thought this was a bit odd, but he did as he was told as he remembered Musuko's sensei was the Kage of his village.

The world became black around Naruto, all he could sense were the birds around him chirping, the leaves russling in the wind, and the sound of the wind blowing past his ears. Doing what Musuko told him to do, he focused on the wind. He could feel the wind gently blowing against his body, on the right of him. He heard the gusts of wind swiftly blowing by. Finally he was concentrating so hard that, he saw something glowing in front of him. He knew his eyes were closed, but still he saw something like a snake slithering around in the void of his eyelids. He heard the wind again, and this time another snake-like thing appeared and followed behind the other going in the same direction as the wind. Just then a large gust of wind appeared and Naruto saw before him a large swarm of these glowing snakes flying right by him, some doing flips in the air as they continued on their path. With the surprise of the immense amount of things going through at once, Naruto opened his eyes. He saw only Musuko sitting right in front of him.

"You see them. Don't you?" Musuko said not opening his own eyes.

"What are they?"

"They are the wind. What really makes the leaves move as it passes by, what makes that hissing sound as it passes your ear, what picks things up in wind storms. That is what the wind really is. They look like snakes because that's what the wind does, it slithers and slides around things. There is an animal that represents each and every element. The turtle for earth, the octopus for water, and the ant for fire. Those are just the basic four elements, there are other elements such as lightning, but we won't talk about those now." Musuko stood up and opened his eyes to look at his student, "Right now, we will work with the wind element, which is your strongest right now. Later on, we'll do fire."

* * *

_...nata?...hellooo. Wake up...Ah...his is...rassing. She faint...erself, not even by...perver...remark. I'm gon...to work on that._

The Hyuuga awoken from her self-induced faint and saw Chichi right in front of her face.

"Ah, good. You're awake finally. Well then, shall we begin now?" Chichi backed off and helped Hinata up onto her feet. Hinata, still with a blush on her face, was wobbling a bit from getting up to quickly, "Don't go fainting on me again." Chichi joked as she got her balance and smiled a bit as well.

"Ok. I'm ready."

"Alright, then I think I can tell you now how you activate the Tenyomon." pausing for a moment as to find the right words, then continued, "The activation of the Tenyomon is different for everyone. But it always is something that is of good. Mine is from pentance as I said before. And yours...is activated by...passion." Hinata's blush grew, "I know it sounds weird, but it's true. You were thinking about that Naruto fellow, most likely because, well, you have shown a liking to him. Is that right?" Hinata's eyes widened and she backed up to a tree behind her.

This only went to aggrivate Chichi, "Hinata, you have to stop being so shy. It is not a fitting emotion for a ninja. What would happen if you were paired up with the person who you liked in a mission. You could not focus on the actual mission. Instead, you'd think all about that one person and hoping that they will come and swoop you up and rescue you from evil clutches. Now I have to be realistic with you now. That isn't going to happen."

Hinata frowned on this and almost began to cry. But before she could let out a tear, Chichi walked up to her, she looked up into his eyes. They showed kindness in them and a hint of friendship within them.

Chichi continued, but in a calmer voice, "I am right when I say it won't happen. But it won't happen if you don't tell the person who you admire how you truly feel about them. Not only will it eliminate your shyness, but it will give you a new friend and a person who will protect you no matter what." he smiled, "Now. Tell me. Do you have any feelings for this Naruto or anyone else in this village?"

Hinata's mind was now running faster than an F-284 (A/N: yes people I know that is not a real plane. But if it was, it would be really fast.) The blush was gone now, either that or it consumed her entire body. Her heart was beating faster than before. She could hardly breathe. Should she tell him? Should she spill out her heart right onto his lap? Then she thought over what Chichi said before the mind jogging question. She would no longer be shy, she could be an actual kinouchi, she could have friends, and she could know that she was safe with Chichi and Naruto-

Wait...she completely had forgotten about the blonde Uzumaki child. She had had a crush on him ever since she first saw him, and it was the same with Chichi. Could it be that...that she had these feelings for both these shinobi?

"Hinata?" Chichi interrupted her train of thought. Hinata slumped her head down seeing that she would have no other choice.

She nodded, "Yes Chichi. I do care about him so. Ever since I first saw him when I was a child. He has always been there for me, never calling me weak or anything. I just wish he could see me for who I am and how I feel about him."

The last words she said shocked and at the same time touched him. Hinata had grown attached ot him as did to her. He gave a big warm smile to the Hyuuga. "That's what I wanted to hear." Chichi moved closer to Hinata as her head was still down. And without her noticing, Chichi placed her into his arms in an embrace.

This momentarily surprised Hinata, but she then smiled and put her arms around the grey haired ninja as well. "And don't worry, he'll see in time." The two closed their eyes as to enjoy the others warmth. Just then, blue chakra began to swirl around them at intense forces.

Hinata was the first to open her eyes, she saw the chakra.

"Chichi." Chichi replied to Hinata by opening his eyes and too seeing the chakra.

"You've activated the first gate of the Tenyomon! And without being in a fight. This is good, if you can do it now, you can do it fighting." his warm smile turned into a larger, more friendlier smile. This made Hinata blush a bit, knowing exactly what made her activate the gate.

Chichi.

After a few more seconds, the blue chakra faded away into nothingness, and the two shinobi were left alone once again. Both in an embracing position still. Eyes looking right at each other with their faces mere inches away from each other as they continued to smile. Then the moment killers arrived.

"Hey Hinata!" Kiba came running out to her yelling at the top of his lungs with Akamaru running behind him and Shino walking in his quiet manner as usual. What are you doing here so early? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I was with-" She looked right in front of her to see that no one was there. Chichi had vanished. This stunned Hinata just a bit as she did not even noticed he had left.

Kiba, breaking his teammate out of her daze, "Hinata? Who were you with?"

The Hyuuga replied with a smile, "No body, just me and the wind."

* * *

"Concentrate Naruto! Remember, you must think of how a snake moves around. You can't just tell the wind where to go, it won't listen, direct it with your chakra." Musuko said as he was clinging to a branch for life.

Naruto had gotten the wind to move, but control, he lacked. He put so much chakra into the wind motion that it could have shot Musuko a good hundred yards if he didn't grab hold of a tree branch.

"Just channel a small amount of the chakra through the air and you should have enough wind to propel you instead of just fling your opponents to the ground."

"But Musuko-sensei, if I can just do this, I could easily defeat anyone." Naruto questioned.

"Wrong." Musuko said angrily as he released the branch and landed on the ground. He walked over towards his student as he spoke, "Dead wrong. You can defeat the common human. But a ninja, they could easily recover from that attack, even worse, reflect it right back at you. The jutsu you're tyring to do takes concentration which I believe you have. You must give the wind not only the right amount of force, but also make it only so that it is blowing on your back. What you are doing is great for the first day believe me. But we have a month to do this, so try practicing on it and we'll continue tomorrow. Same place." with that Naruto nodded and walked off of the training grounds to get some ramen.

Musuko stayed and pondered over the things that happened on the first day. _'Amazing, he has gotten further than me in the first day than I did in a week. Definetely could finish this in two weeks at least. That is...if he had the correct support.'_ Musuko looked down to his hand, _'We'll give it another week. If the pattern doesn't change, then we'll do it.'_ and with that, he too walks off the training ground as well. But not without being followed by a shadowed figure.

* * *

(At night; somewhere unknown)

Hands slam down against a table in rage.

"DANGIT!" Kabuto has his hands all over different scrolls strewed across the table.

Another figure with a Konoha vest appears behind the four eyed ninja. "Something the matter Kabuto?" a hiss was made.

"Master Orochimaru. I have checked with our entire scroll vault, and I don't see any seal that matches the one that you placed on the Uchiha." a long pause between the two as Orochimaru skimmed across the scrolls layed out across the table. "He has shown an increase in chakra as well as physical strength, like all the other seals have. But what doesn't make sense is that his chakra has been used in ways that the other subjects were incapable of even trying. Could it be that you made another seal master?"

"It's the heaven seal." the snake sannin said flattly.

"What?" Kabuto asked, "But that doesn't make any sense. The heaven seal has three tomoes. Sasukes only has one-"

"And two dots." Orochimaru finished for his subordinate, "Something happened that changed those two tomoes into dots. Who did it or what caused I'm not sure. But I do know one thing." moving the scrolls around to reveal the heaven seal on the table, "If the final tomoe becomes a dot, he will be better to me than I had ever hoped for." a snakey smile crawled onto the sannin's pale-white skin.

* * *

It has been seven days since Hinata and Naruto's began, let us bring you up to date with what has happened.

Naruto, has been gradually making his way with the water walking and the Taifuu Kasoku, but still, they are nowhere to be completely done. However, aside from those. Naruto has gotten better with the daily spars against his sensei and has even tricked him with the occasional shadow clone. He pulled a prank on Musuko once, and let's just say the thousand years of death jutsu was the least of his worries.

Hinata, by the miracle of Kami himself, has stopped stuttering (A/N: finally! no more dashes), and thanks to her training with Chichi, she has been able to open the first gate of the Tenyomon at any given time. But since she lost even with the first gate, Chichi and Hinata have been sparring with her only using her Jyuuken Style as so she could perfect it. They still train before her team arrives for the afternoon and so both Kiba and Shino still have no idea as to how Hinata is improving so much.

Sasuke, as we have not seen him at all in this week at all, is as we all know in the care of his original sensei, Kakashi. So you can probably guess as to how he's doing.

The Sky Ninjas, have not been improving physically, but with their training with Hinata and Naruto, Musuko and Chichi have been keeping up with their own training and possibly getting to make some friends. Musuko has been introduced to the ramen world which his student has come to love so much, and he actually likes it. Given it isn't his favorite dish, he still is forced to have it every day for lunch. Chichi and Hinata have gotten along and treat each other like the best of friends. Of course, Chichi has found the way to make her faint, multiple times. Seirei, he has been doing his own training. Most of the time just sitting up at the Hokage Monument and reading his book.

Temari, we have seen little of her. But she continues to her training program as her brothers are still in the finals and so cannot leave just yet. Not to mention the little surprise they have for Konoha.

* * *

Musuko is with Naruto as he watches him perform the Taifuu Kasoku. But failing as he looks that Naruto only has a large amount of wind still blowing past him. Which the enemy could use if needed or have the wind element themselves. Then there was the water walking, he has now made it to about ten steps but then his chakra gives out and he falls straight into the water. He needs to walk the water without even feeling exhausted, not to mention getting more than two thirds of the way across. The way things were going, Naruto would be stuck on this one jutsu for the entire month as well as the chakra contol exercise.

Musuko had no other choice. If he wanted to speed up the training, he had to do it.

"Alright Naruto. We'll continue tomorrow morning." the white haired ninja said to his student. Naruto was at the moment on his seventh step in the river.

"Ah come on Musuko! I think I got it this time. Look." and with that Naruto took three more steps, and on his tenth step his foot was practically consumed by the river. He did not sink. He took the eleventh step, landed on the water. Then fell. His chakra had given out on him once again.

Gasping for air, the orange ninja was pulled out of the river by his sensei as he stood on the river himself. Angry, Musuko looked Naruto square in the eye. "One, did I not tell you to call me sensei?" Naruto not speaking, feeling the killer intent coming from the sky ninja, shook his head yes, "Good. And two, when I say we are done. We're done." he tosses Naruto onto the riverbed and walks away to where ever.

Naruto is left on the ground rubbing his soar spot from where he landed. A bit irked as how Musuko spoke to him. But he had to remeber that Musuko was his teacher and he should not disobey his orders. He stood up and left to go get a nice hot bath at the springs. Little did he know that this trip would change the entire month of training.

* * *

Chichi and Hinata were busy improving Hinata's Jyuuken. She was about to strike the gray haired shinobi in the arm, when he jumped out of the way and popped up behind her.

In a playful voice, "You're gonna have to be a lot faster than that."

Hinata returned the tease with her own smirk, "Fine by me." just then, blue chakra started swirling around her. Chichi's eyes went wide as his smile also did too. But the smile faded just as fast as Hinata did. "This fast enough for you." Hinata shot her arm out and hit Chichi in the back, sending him flying into the ground five feet in front of him. He laid there motionless.

But Hinata stayed where she was still in her battle stance, "Come on Chichi. I know you've had worse from me." Chichi stood up, unharmed. Brushing off the dirt on his shirt, he replied, "You've improved. But you forget." he displays his own smirk as blue chakra surrounds himself, "There's more than one gate." the chakra grew twice the size as the amount that Hinata had around her. And with that, he vanished.

Looking around, Hinata activated her Byakugan. Just as she did, she raised her right arm out in front of her. The arm moved back as pressure applied to it. She raised her other arm, the same thing happened. She ducked as wind blew by her head. As she was ducking, she also did a small jump as the dirt moved by. Finally, she crossed her arms in a defence position as she was sent flying into the ground. Chichi had finally appeared just as Hinata hit the ground. Both ninja's blue chakra vanished as they both panted for air.

A few seconds later, Hinata rose up with a smile on her face as she rubbed her arms. "Nice one Chichi, which gate did you open?"

"Just the third. But it was just enough. The Tenyomon increased your Byakugan's ability, so if you had went on the offense you could have beaten me." Chichi said with a big grin and his hand on his head.

Thinking about it, "How many gates can you open?" she got the exact opposite reaction that she planned. Chichi went silent, and his mood changed completely. From happy, to a mix of what appeared to be anger, sadness, and possibly...shame.

Not even looking at Hinata as he spoke. "I can open all the gates." Chichi said with the most coldest voice Hinata had ever heard come from him.

Hinata was frozen in fear, as she had never seen the sky ninja like this, but she asked, "W-what happens when you open the final gate."

"No." Chichi said flatly, "No, you will not open the ninth gate."

"But...what happens then?"

A long silence fell between the two, "You cannot die. No matter what." Hinata's eyes went wide. You couldn't die? Immortality?! But...why would Chichi hate this, was what was running through her mind. Until the shinobi continued, "The ninth gate, the gate of angels, gives you an incredible amount of chakra, enough to defeat your Hokage in one foul swoop." Hinata's eyes remained wide, that much power would be that of practically...a god. "But there is a price to pay for this power." Hinata looked at his eyes, tears were almost forming around them as he spoke, "It gives you a tenth gate, the Antegate. The Tenyomon is activated by something such as passion or even pentance, but the Antegate, is activated by the exact opposite. It's activated by pure rage, the want to truly take another's life with no regret for the act." Chichi's last few words brought a cold chill down her spine, but Chichi continued in explaining this horrible ability, "You gain an immense amount of power, but then, you have no control of your actions. Another being takes over, following your one emotion, and to carry out your one desire by any means necessary. You truly do become," a tear trickles down Chichi's face, his fist clench tight, and his head looks down to the ground beneath him, "a monster." another tear falls to the ground.

Hinata stands looking at her new found friend, just standing there, trying to hold back the tears. Her feelings took over, she walked over to the gray haired boy without even knowing. She placed her hand on his shoulder. Chichi did not look up.

"It's happened before to you. Hasn't it?"

"So many. Dead. So many. In so many horrible ways." the tears ran freely down as he landed his head onto Hinata's chest.

Hinata did not expect this to happen at all. Not from him. If anything, she thought that it would be her to cry into his chest. His strong, burly, getting off subject here. If he was doing this and being a ninja, truly the Antegate had to be a terrible thing to have. Feeling pity for her friend, but also caring kindness, she wrapped her arms around the sobbing shinobi trying to confort him. Patting him on the back, moving his and her body back and forth in a cradling motion, and making a small shushing sound.

"I promise," a small tear fell from her own face, "I will not open the final gate."

Just then Chichi's own arms wrapped around the Hyuuga in an embrace. "Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me. I'd never want to see you like that, ever."

The calm wind blowing by their bodies was the only thing that could be heard around them now as they remained in their embrace.

Finally, "Well sniff I best be heading back now." Chichi removed himself from Hinata's grasp, with a little difficulty. A blush appeared on both of their faces as they removed from the hug. Wiping his eyes, "I'll see you tomorrow. We'll continue our training then." and with that he turned around and left the training grounds, as did Hinata.

"Now do you believe me, Shino?"

"You are right Kiba." the bug ninja replied hiding behind a bush with his team mate, "So this is how she is improving so much in her training." he said silently.

"I knew she was getting help from that stupid sky ninja that we met in the forest. What's her deal with him anyways?"

"Something tells me that an event happened in the Forest of Death." silence, "We will deal with this tomorrow. Right now, we go and inform our sensei." Kiba nodded, and the two left the scene.

* * *

We find Musuko now in Ichiraku Ramen Stand. He didn't know why he was there, but he had this strange need for ramen. Ordering a bowl of his students regular, just one bowl, he began eating. Then he smell something odd, yet somewhat familiar. He sniffed his bowl, but that smelled pretty much the same as anything. Then the guy sitting next to him, just smelled of some alcohol and BO. Finding that it was nowhere near him, he turned around to look behind him. That's when he saw her, Sakura.

"Excuse me, sir?" the pink haired ninja asked for the chef's attention.

"What can I help you with miss?"

"I'm looking for my team mate, Naruto. I've heard he comes around here often."

The chef simply smiled at the sound of the name, "You heard right. He's one of my best customers. But I'm sorry miss, I haven't seen him today." he then heads back into the kitchen to make some more ramen for his other customers.

"Heh. That's kinda funny." Sakura turned to where the voice came from.

"You!" she said noticing Musuko, "What's so funny?"

"You. You smell like your name." taking another bit of his ramen, "I thought I recognized that smell somewhere. It's from when we last met alone." giving a quite chuckle.

This brought Sakura back into her memories. Where she was carrying groceries, where this ninja popped out of nowhere, where he finally knocked some sense into her. Getting out of her mind, she sees Musuko had returned to eating. "Thank you. For talking to me."

"No problem. There should be no fangirls in the ninja society, there is no place for them in it." sipping down the broth, Musuko continued, "You said you were looking for Naruto."

"Yes? Do you know where he is?"

"Not really, I was just training with him bout a half an hour ago, but he could be anywhere by now." Musuko responded.

"Wait. You've been with training? With Naruto? Of all the people in the finals. Why not someone like Neji, or your own team?"

Placing money on the table for the bowl, Musuko answers, "Because Chichi is training with Hinata, and Seirei, well Seirei is doing his own thing. And as for me, I believe Naruto has some potential. He just needs some training."

"So." Sakura putting her hands on her hips and with a smirk on her face, "How is he doing?"

Musuko returned her smirk with one of his own, "Let's just say, by the end of the month, he'll be a whole lot faster." this surprised Sakura a bit, "Hey, you might not even recognize him as the dead-last of the academy after the finals." he keeps his smirk as he leaves the stand, leaving Sakura almost frozen in shock. But that left her once Musuko asked, "Hey Sakura, you guys got a pizza stand in this village?"

Sakura's face turned from shock, to absolutely clueless, "What's a pizza?"

"..." the two just stared at each other for a moment, "I'm gonna take that as a no." and with that, Musuko left the ramen stand and leaving a kuniochi wondering what on earth was a pizza?

* * *

While the meeting of Musuko and Sakura was going on, Naruto had brought himself to the hot springs as he relaxed in one of the many hot pools.

"Ahhhh. This is the life. No training, and this time it's ok if I am in the water. Man I just wish I can get that stupid water walking down." the blonde ninja slid down more into the pool, relaxing even more from the soothingness of the waters.

After a few minutes of nothing but cmoplete relaxation, Naruto heard a giggle. But not from a girl, which they usual come from. It sounded like it came from a man, an older man. Turning around, he looked up to see an old man high up on the cliff, with a telescope. And what could he be doing with a telescope at the springs and giggling? What else, but peeping. Naruto frowned upon this as his own sensei, Kakashi, was himself a pervert. After being trained by Musuko for a week, he had actually increased on his stealth. And with his already brilliant mind for pranks, he had instantly came up with a way to teach this old fart a lesson. The plan came to him as if by reflex, and in return, Naruto revealed an evil grin on his face.

The old began giggling again as he took out a notebook and began writing in it as he continued to look through his little telescope. "Oh this is perfect for my next book!" but as he finished the sentence, a huge gust of wind came from behind him. The gust was so strong that it caught the old man off guard and caused him to lose his balance. But that's all it did. Leaning over the ledge that would lead to his doom as the girls' springs were right below him. Turning around to grab onto something he noticed a small boy in orange and with a grin leaning up against the cliff himself. With a quizzical look the boy responded by throwing out both of his arms at the old man. Another gust of wind blew at the man, and this time, it took him off the cliff. He fell down screaming and landed right into the springs. Then the only screaming one could hear was the screeches from the women as a man had appeared. Then the next set of screams came from the old man as he was beaten to a bloody pulp by the women who had now wrapped themselves in towels.

And as all this was going on, Naruto was rolling on the ground laughing.

* * *

Seirei we find sitting on the Hokage Monument indian style, reading his mysterious little book. He had been sitting there since the sun had rose, continuing to read his book. Sometimes he would close his book, but then he would just sit there looking either down into the village, or up into the sky. But today was different, as he first gave a small sigh, then spoke.

"How long have you been there, Temari?" and once again, the Suna Kinouchi appeared from the bushes.

"It seems long enough if you finally realized I was there." she said with a smile. She walked over to the sky ninja and sat down next to him to enjoy the view he was watching as well.

Seirei looking back at the view as well, "You've been there for the past three days. Not straight, but dang you've been in those bushes for a while." giving a smile of his own, "I just thought you would tell me the truth as I had caught you."

Temari looked angered by this, she had actually thought that she had a pretty good hiding place. So much for that. But then she thought of her own comeback, "Yes that's true. Three days I've been watching you. And you for all that time, you have not yet done a single bit of training whatsoever. You've just been reading that same book and enjoying the scenery. And what's funny is that you are the one with the finals match against whom your brother I believe proclaimed as a 'genius.'"

Seirei laid down on his back with his hands behind his head, "I have my reasons." in return, Temari did the same thing and laid next to the black haired boy looking up at the sky.

"'The Village Hidden in the Sky.' I've never heard of that village. Is it new or something?" Temari asked still cloud gazing.

"No. It's relatively old for that matter."

"Oh."

"This must make you homesick." Temari said, "Staring up in the sky all day."

"It's what keeps me strong. The only true sign that I have a family out there." "How about you? You got any family?"

"...Yes and no. My brothers hardly act like brothers to me. My father, he's too occupied with his job as our village's Kage to be there for us. And my mother died giving birth to Gaara."

Seirei didn't respond to her complaints. Thinking that the boy was taking his time to think of something nice to say, Temari waited. But when nothing came for three entire minutes, her patience was running thin. She was about to yell at the sky ninja, when he finally said something.

"I'm sorry."

"That's it? That's all you can say for thinking that long about my family troubles?" sounding a bit angry, yet humorous as it was kind of funny on how he reacted.

"Well, that too." Temari quirked up her head as well as an eyebrow, but she remained quiet as she sensed Seirei had more to say, "But I'm sorry...for what I did to you in our match."

Temari sat up look down at a self-pitying ninja, "It's ok. You healed my arm completely. Somehow? So no harm, no foul, right?" she gave her cloud gazing partner a reassuring smile.

"But I didn't mean to hit your arm. I was aiming for your fan." a gust of wind went by them as only silence was heard, "My sword attack was to render your fan useless for the match. But...but the wind pushed me up more than I expected. And I had cut off your arm. I didn't mean to. That's why I said you were lucky. Not many people escape their deaths." he then stood and walked away. While as Temari looked at him in confusion, and then without knowing, she placed her hand up onto her arm that had been cut off.

What did he mean by escaping death?

* * *

About an hour or so, Naruto was still laughing about his greatest prank since painting the Hokage Monument. He came across the hospital, which made him laugh even more. Naruto began thinking about what kind of pain that old fart was in right now. He was probably in two arm casts, one leg cast, a whole lot a bandages on his chest, a busted lip, and a swollen black eye. Naruto laughed once again thinking of that image he had just made up.

Just then, bursting out of the hospital's front doors, was something Naruto would have never believed if he didn't see it.

It was a man in two arm casts, one leg cast, a whole lot a bandages on his chest, a busted lip, and a swollen black eye. The man came out in ranting rage with a nurse following close behind.

"Sir, you need to stay in your bed for another day or two! Your injuries haven't fully healed yet!" the nurse yelled out to the injured man.

"I'm fine, OK! I've had worse, believe me!" the old man remebering the last time he got caught at the springs. A shiver went down his spine as he remembered one specific blondey that he would indeed never forget. The mans train of thought was broken when he laid his gaze on Naruto. "YOU!!"

"Eh heh. Gotta go now." and with that, Naruto made his escape up to the rooftops.

"Come back here!" the old man stripped away his casts and jumped up onto the rooftops himself.

Naruto looked behind him thinking that he lost the gramps for good. But to his dismay, that gramps was hot on his tail. Looking up on the old man's head, he noticed a head band protector with the 'Oil' symbol on it. Crap, this guy was a ninja himself. Now Naruto decided to book it, which the old man did in return.

Our little orange ninja tried every trick and manuever in his artilery, but the old ninja still was keeping up with him no matter what.

"Man! This old guy's not kidding." Naruto said to himself still running on the rooftops.

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY YOU LITTLE BRAT!" the old man shouted at his target, he had picked up his speed.

This got a small reaction out of Naruto, he was going his fastest without using the Taifuu Kasoku. He didn't use it as he knew that it was not yet mastered, so it would just give his persuer the same boost. Naruto went through his list of tricks once more, scratching off each one he had used and failed. The list was almost completely eliminated, when finally, he came up with another devious plan. He just remembered using it once on the day after he had graduated. It took perfect precission, but it was most effective, considering who it was used on. Looking about, he saw a clearing about a half a mile northeast from him. He made a quick turn in that direction, which in return knocked the old man back a few steps behind Naruto, but he was still gaining. Lucky for Naruto, he wouldn't reach him until he had reached his destination.

Naruto landed into the clearing stopping at the edge of trees in front of him. A second later, the old man had landed right behind Naruto heaving with anger and killer intent.

"Now you're going to pay for what you did you little punk!" the man lifts his fist into the air, but as he did, Naruto, the prankster that he was, turned around to face his opponent.

"We'll see about that. Pervert." without another second being wasted, Naruto placed his hands into a ram seal, "Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" in an instance, the clearing was filled with clones of the blonde ninja surrounding the old man.

"Nice," admiring the boys work for the moment, "I have never seen this amount of clones before. Still, you're going down."

"On the conterary," Naruto smirked and placed his hands into another seal, "You are. Oiroke no Jutsu!" just then, the clones within the clearing transformed into the trademark naked woman that many perverts have already fallen prey to in the past. And this opponent would be no different.

Once the smoke cleared to reveal the scantily clad females, the old mans jaw fell open. Looking at all of the women, he could have sworn that the brat killed him and he had gone to heaven. The blush on his face was so intense that it could have rivaled Hinata's own. But that all ended when the old perv fell down to the ground due to a massive nose bleed. Now out cold for awhile, Naruto transformed back into his normal form and dispersed his clones.

"Don't mess with Uzumaki Naruto." said ninja gave his foxy grin at the laid down man. But the smile quickly faded away when he felt a sharp point on the back of his neck. Looking at the old man on the ground, Naruto saw that the man poofed into smoke and turned into a log.

"Not bad kid. Not bad at all." the man took away the kunai from the boys neck as he turned around to see him, "You used your enemies weakness against him. I must say I'm impressed. What are you Chunin?"

"Genin." the old man was taken aback for a moment at hearing Naruto's ninja ranking, but then regained himself.

"You one of those Genins in the finals?"

Naruto now being smug, as he still didn't like perverts, "What's it to you."

"Oh nothing. I just thought I could teach you a jutsu or two for the finals."

"Sorry old perv, I already got a sensei." Naruto turns away and begins to leave.

"But is your sensei a higher rank than Jounin?" the man's words stopped Naruto in his steps. Turning around with his interest peaked, the old man continued, "I can train you when you aren't training with your sensei, and by the end of the month you'll win the finals for sure. So, what do you say to that?"

Naruto put his hand on his chin in a thinking posture, _'Let's see here. Training ends at two, which could give me a half an hour for food and rest. Then straight back to training with this guy. If he is what he says, he'll be able to teach me more powerful jutsus. As long as Musuko-sensei doesn't find out until the finals, nothing bad should happen.'_ "Alright, perv. But we need to start training at three o'clock each day."

"That means you're going to be done at around seven with my program, you understand that?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I can handle it." the blonde shinobi turns around waving behind him, "See ya tomorrow old perv."

"Will you stop calling me that! It's Jiraiya-sensei from now on." Naruto smiled, "All right...sensei-perv." Naruto jumped up to the rooftops leaving the old man now known as Jiriaya to return to his 'business'.

* * *

The sun set and rose upon the village of Konoha. Hinata had finished her breakfast and chores, asking to leave for training, she headed out to training ground 8.

As she was walking down, she began thinking to herself.

_'Another beautiful day for me and Chichi. I remeber when it rained all day, you couldn't do any of our moves without slipping and falling into the mud. Heh, my jacket got really dirty. Luckily it came out. Wonder what Chichi has planned for us today? Maybe having me unlock the second gate. Because with my Byakugan active, I could then easily defeat him in a spar finally. Oh yeah, I forgot. He can open all the gates, so whats stopping him from opening the eighth.'...'Something doesn't feel right. I know this is a good thing what Chichi is doing with me. But why is he? I'm not in the finals. I was not nearly as good as Neji was when we first fought. What could be the reason._' Hinata stopped as she just had a thought strike her_, 'Could it be? That...that he likes me? No, it couldn't. Could it? I mean, he lives in a completely different village than I do. Not to mention we've only known each other for not even two weeks. He wouldn't have gained an interest in me that quickly.'_...Hinata's head bows down in sorrow_, 'No one would._'

She walked into her team's training grounds, ready to wait for her friend from the sky.

"Hey Hinata." Hinata's head shot up, she recognized the voice instantly. However, it wasn't Chichi's, "What are you doing here so early?"

"K-kiba!" the canine ninja leaned up against a nearby tree, waiting for an answer, "I-i just wanted to put some extra train in for me. I mean, we don't really start our training session until the afternoon, right?" Hinata trying to hold back her stutter as to not look nervous.

"That is true." this time, Shino walked out from behind the tree, making Hinata even more nervous, "But me and Kiba insisted to Kurenai-sensei that we start early this week. Since none of us are in the finals, we can start whenever we want."

"I would have been in the finals if they didn't carry me off of the floor. I could have taken that stupid sky ninja."

Kurenai jumped down from the same tree Shino appeared from, "Kiba, you were temporarily paralyzed. If he was a true enemy, you would have been dead. Not to mention, Akamaru as well." Kiba snuffed at the obvious fact that his sensei presented to him. He still thought he could have won. "So Hinata. Since you're finally here, we can start the session, or do you want to take a breather after walking such a ways." Kurenai said in a motherly tone.

This was not good. This was not good at all. Hinata knew that Chichi would arrive at any given moment. Since she was the first one there, she had to find a way to warn Chichi, Kiba was not on the friendly side when anyone even mention the three sky ninjas. So meeting one would not at all be fun to see. She closed her eyes for a second to think of some excuse for her to leave, but her plan to warn him was thought of too late. As he jumped out from a tree behind Hinata about to pounce on the Hyuuga. He was so quiet that no one noticed him until one of the kunai on his shoulder reflected a beam of light into Kiba's and Shino's eyes. Shino didn't react as he had sunglasses. Kiba pulled out one of his own kunai. Hinata stayed where she stood as she gave a long sigh as if she was disappointed.

"Well, so much for that." Hinata said to herself. Then, just as Chichi was about to land on her, she shuffled to the side. Chichi landed and threw one of his legs into a roundhouse kick to her chest. Hinata's eyes still close, she lifted her hand and caught the leg coming at her. "Chichi, now is not the time."

"Oh come on. You always loved my surprise attacks. Heck, you've been doing much better. You didn't have to open your eyes for it." a dead silence fell between the two. Chichi then felt eyes upon him, Hinata released his leg so he could turn around. "Oh, well, um, nice to see you all." whispering to Hinata, "Don't you guys train in the afternoon?"

"It appears that our schedule was changed."

Hinata's team had all their own reaction to the sky ninja's intrusion. Kiba, not liking the last sky ninja he met, was absolutely infuriated that Chichi had been infatuating himself with one of his own team mates. Kurenai, almost had stars in her eyes. Finally, her Hinata had a friend that wasn't her own team mates. And by the looks of things, they seemed to getting along quite fine. And Shino, well you all know, he doesn't react to anything.

"So Hinata," Kurenai, breaking the silence, "Who is your friend?"

Chichi instantly went into a rich gentleman's stance and bowed down to the Jounin, "My name is Brother Chichi of Amagakure, the village hidden in the sky." he then went back into his own posture waiting for a reaction. He got one.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" Kiba bursted out in absolute rage, "COMING IN TO OUR VILLAGE AND THEN TRAINING WITH ONE OF MY TEAM MATES!! WHO GAVE THAT PRIVILEDGE TO YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE?! I OUGHTA GIVE YOU A PIECE OF MY MIND!!"

"Kiba! Control yourself." Kurenai stopped her student from possibly mauling the gray haired shinobi, "There is nothing against others working together to help each other train. Then again, this could be the reason as to why Hinata is always more winded at the beginning of our training sessions."

"Sorry about leaving her tired out with you guys. But we have been going overtime since we do only have one month." Chichi smiled with his hand on his head.

"AND WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN! YOU SICK LITTLE PERVERT!"

"Kiba, down." out of nowhere, Kurenai pulls out a water squirter and shots it at Kiba's face. "So Hinata." Shino says, "Just what exactly have you and this boy been training on?"

"Taijutsu."Chichi said without missing a beat, "Her Jyuuken has improved greatly with mine and your teams aid, and I think she'd be a very worthy opponent for anyone now. Maybe even for Kiba and Akamaru." Oh-ho-ho-ho...that just plain out did it for Kiba's short fuse. He went off and was now bursting red at the top of his lungs.

"I COULD TAKE YOU ON ALL BY MYSELF! WE'LL SEE WHO IS THE BETTER FIGHTER YOU LITTLE PUNK!"

Kurenai was about to bring out the squirter again, when Shino intervened, "No. This could finally cool down Kiba. Not to mention, I'd like to see him fight a second Sky Ninja." Kurenai smiled and nodded to Kiba and Chichi approving of the brawl.

"Ok, I will supervise this match. Understand?" both nod as they begin strectching, "You both know the rules, but I will stop it if it gets too out of hand."

"Hey, Akamaru come on." Kiba called over his dog.

"Don't bring the dog into this fight." Chichi said in a sincere voice.

"Akamaru and I always fight together, weather you like it or not."

"I don't think you should bring in an animal that doesn't want to fight." Kiba looked down to his canine partner. Akamaru began shaking his head and ears down.

Kibe a bit ticked, but he could never be angry at his own dog. So he nodded to Akamaru and the canine ran over to stand next to Hinata.

"Heh, this is still going to be a piece of cake." Kiba said with a toothy grin.

"Funny, that's just what I was thinking." Chichi said full of confidence. Grinding his teeth, Kiba was on toes ready to just rip into the sky ninja.

"Ready?" Kurenai asked, "Now remember, do what you want. Just don't kill each other." she lifts her hand into the air, Kiba got down on all fours. Meanwhile, Chichi remained where he stood and placed his left hand on the back of his head.

"Looks like Chichi wants this done quickly." Hinata said to Shino. Shino then turned to his team mate not understanding what she said. Hinata explained, "This is one of his better stances. It makes it look like he's completely open, but he's fast enough to make sure you think twice."

"Something tells me he's gotten you with it." Shino said.

"Learned my lesson there and then. He really does pack a punch no matter what he uses. But..." thinking if she should say this, but does anyway, "he has never broken a single bone with his hits. You just hurt alot, nothing fatal, yet it looks like it should be." Shino's head perks a bit as he looks back at Chichi.

"A most interesting taijutsu ability."

"Begin!" the Jounin's hand falls down.

Kiba's body lunges forward at full speed running on all fours. Chichi remained standing still. Kiba was smiling now as he was a mere ten yards away. The canine shinobi jumped up into the air, "Gatsuuga!"

"This attack again?" Chichi asks sounding a bit bored. Kiba begins flying in the air as he spins like a drill directly at his opponent. Chichi simply ducked as he did a half way split, the attack missed and Chichi rose up again. But Kiba wasn't finished, he stopped his spinning in mid-air. As he flew in the air, he took two kunai and threw them with each hand at Chichi one after the other. "And now the attack from Tenten's match." he said it with a disappointed air. He grabbed the first kunai with his free hand, the other still on his head. Doing a quick spin, he threw the first kunai right back at the other one to deflect it.

Kiba landed on his feet and a hand for support. Seeing that there was no damage made to the sky ninja, he snarled.

Chichi responded, "You think you would have thought that these attacks wouldn't work on me. You used the Gatsuuga on my brother, it didn't work except for the time you had Akamaru fighting with you. The kunai attack would not work as shown in my match with Tenten, I nullified her ability to use weaponry. So the only thing you have left would be taijutsu." Chichi extended his free hand motioning a 'come on' gesture to Kiba.

This aggrivated Kiba even more. But he knew that the punk was right. He didn't have any jutsus that focused on himself. With a breathe, Kiba went straight at Chichi. Said person was staying right where he was as Kiba neared his position. When close enough, Kiba jumped towards Chichi in a pouncing form, but before he touched Chichi, Kiba tucked and rolled right in front of the sky ninja performing an upside-down donkey kick to Chichi's chest. But it missed as Chichi bent his upper body backwards. Since Kiba missed, he continued in his path over Chichi. That was when the gray haired boy pulled his hand on his head off. The hand flung up in a karate chop, and landed straight in between Kiba's legs. Yep, Kiba got chopped in the pups. His eyes went crossed, he became short of breathe, and with the forward pressure from the chop, Kiba was shot forward and landed face first on the ground. Everyone around winced at the shot taken, even Akamaru. Just looking at the move looked painful, imagine what it was like for the guy who went through it. Kiba was rolling on the ground whinpering like a dog holding the spot in between his legs.

Chichi now stood erect and walked over to his wounded opponent. Crouching down and looking him in the eye, Chichi said, "If you don't get up, then that means I win." Kiba stopped rolling. Slowly but surely, he rose to his two wobbling feet. He showed a toothy grin once again. Chichi's curiosity got the better of him, "Why are you smiling?" Kiba didn't answer. Instead, he put his hand into his pouch. Shuffling through it, he finally pulled out a small brown bead. His grin got wider as he placed the bead into his mouth.

"It's soldier pill time." Kiba said. Just after he bit into the pill, his appearance became more beastial. He got onto all fours, now looking even more like an animal than before. "Here I come." With new found speed, Kiba came rushing at Chichi. But this time, Chichi had both hands out, but still he was in no stance that anyone could see. Kiba threw back an arm with his clawed hand ready to slash at the sky ninja. As he brought his arm across, Chichi's body vanished. But just as he had vanished, he instantly reappeared with a small cloud of dust around his feet. Kiba was left completely open as he didn't expect this sort of thing to happen. Chichi spun around and brought his right elbow into Kiba's own chest. Kiba went back only a foot when Chichi return right up to his front. Making his palms open and fingers curled, he began making multiple palm shots into the canine ninja's midsection. On the final palm strike, he placed some chakra into it and sent Kiba flying into the nearest tree, which was about a hundred feet away. Kiba landed on his rear and body was hanging limp. Chichi walked towards his opponent in his weakened state.

When he got about five feet away from Kiba, the boy slowly lifted up his hand, "No...more. I...give up. You win." Chichi continued towards Kiba, grabbing an arm, he lifted Kiba onto his shoulder and walked him over to his team.

"Just because you lost, doesn't mean that I can't help you every now and then." a short laugh came from Kiba.

"You know. You sky ninjas aren't all that bad I guess." Kiba smiling a bit. When they reached Hinata and the others, Kurenai declared Chichi the winner of course.

However, after that, Shino had his own set of questions, "Why didn't you use them?" Chichi gave a look that showed he didn't know what the Aburame was talking about, "Your Kunai. He have at least twenty hanging off of your shoulder, and yet you didn't even touch them."

"I don't use them like that. You've seen me use them before." Shino then recalled to the time he first saw Chichi when he was playing music on the rock in the clearing just before the rain ninja appeared. "Well Hinata. This was a decent day of practice for me. I'll leave you and your team with your session now. See you tomorrow, at..." looking at Kurenai, "What time would be alright for you and the team.

"Oh, the same time in the morning for you two is fine with me. We will just go bach to the usual schedule."

"Alright, same time tomorrow then?" directing his question to Hinata this time. Hinata nodded in return. And with that, Chichi left the training grounds.

* * *

"I think that will do it for today, Naruto. We'll continue tomorrow." Musuko said as his student got to his twelveth step across.

"Ok." is what Naruto only said as he swam across the river and got into his dry clothes. With a wave of his hand, Naruto left his sensei.

However, Musuko was feeling that something was up. But he put it aside for now as he thought it wasn't all that important. _'Hmmm. Wonder what Seirei and Chichi are up to.'_ closing his eyes, he reopened them to reveal the Mitarigan. He now could see what his brothers were doing. _'Seirei is off. He must be asleep, if not going to the bathroom. And Chichi, well, speak of the devil, he's coming this way.'_ Musuko turned his head around to the right to see his gray haired brother land right next to him.

"So how is training with the Jinchuuriki doing?" Chichi asked.

"Naruto, which is his name, is doing quite fine. But, I think I'll need to give him some motivation to help along." Musuko said.

"That kid looks like he has plenty of motivation."

"No not Naruto, _him_."

Chichi took a moment to think of what Musuko meant, "Oh. I see." "You need any help with it?"

"You might need to hold him down. He's a bit figgety." Chichi nodded, just as his stomach growled.

"I'm gonna grab some grub, whe do you want to do this?"

"Tomorrow at the start of our training, in the morning." Chichi nodded again, and then left to fill his belly.

"Everything seems to be going fine." Musuko said, but little did he know about his Brother Seirei.

* * *

The activation of the Mitarigan woke Seirei up. Opening his eyes, he could see nothing but darkness around him. He tried to move his arms and legs, but as he did klinking noises were made and he remained motionless. He then began moving his head around, his head was free to move about. He felt things wrapped around his arms and legs and midsection. Nothing was on his back so that meant that both he was not chained to a wall, and that his sword was not with him. Making a small moan, he got a reaction.

"So, you're finally awake." a male voice was heard right in front of him. Looking forward Seirei felt hands on his face. Right after the touch, light filled his eyes, the blindfold had been ripped away from his face. Looking around himself, Seirei could see that wooden things were what was keeping him bound and that a wooden belt-like object was around his abdominal. He found himself in a room with no windows and just one door. Looking forward, he saw his captor.

"You're Temari's brother aren't you?" Seirei asked trying to pinpoint the ninja.

"Kankuro, thank you very much. And it seems that you already know my sister. After you almost killed her!" the puppeteers fists clenched tightly.

Seirei giving a deep sigh, "Look. I healed her, I have already apologized, heck, she said thank you to me. So now that we got that settled-" the sky ninja was cut short by a piece of paper being shoved into his face.

"Recognize this?" Seirei sees that the paper is actually a photograph. And is showed Temari, with her arms around him. "And how bout this?" Kankuro showed another picture that showed the two of them again sitting but with Temari in the bushes...with a smile on her face. The final picture he showed was Seirei lying down on the ground with Temari sitting over him.

Seirei just shook his head and smiled.

"Care to explain yourself?" Kankuro was not in the mood for jokes.

"Where is my sword? Answer that and I'll let you know." Seirei compromised.

"It's right behind you." Seirei turned his head as much as he could, and sure enough there was his sword leaning up against the wall. He turned his head back to Kankuro, and his smile grew wider.

"Well?"

"I don't have all the answers you want. So why not asking your sister?" his smile still on his face.

"Please. She's incompitent of her skills. She didn't win her match against you. I on the other hand did and-" Kankuro's face froze with fear.

"She's right behind me isn't she." Seirei nodded his answer in reply to Kankuro.

"So, I'm incompitent aye?" Kankuro turned around suddenly and was waving his hands frantically.

"No no no. You miss understood. I said...'income print'! Yeah! That's it!" Temari glared daggers at her brother's lame excuse. Almost telepathically, Temari watched as her brother left the room. Once he had left, she returned to Seirei.

"I see he wheres the pants in this family." Seirei joked.

"You aren't really in the position to make jokes. Now aren't you." Temari reminded Seirei that he was still bounded by Kankuro's puppets. "Now what should I do with you? Hmmm?" she said the last part as she walked towards the sky ninja almost seductively. She pulled out a kunai and started waving it around in front of his face.

"How old are you?" Seirei killed the moment. Temari put away the kunai and frowned.

"You must be tired of being like that." the wind mistress turned around and headed to the door, "I'll get my brother to get you-"

SMASH!! Temari turned around to see Seirei rubbing his left wrist, and the puppet arms and belt broken into large pieces. Temari was awe struck. Seirei went to his sword and placed the large weapon back in its place on his back.

"Carrying this sword around, you have to be strong." Seirei said. Temari smiled and she escorted him out of their area and back into Konoha.

* * *

Naruto made his way to the creek where the Jiraiya had agreed to meet him to train. Naruto was being cautious and looking around every now and then. He knew if his sensei caught him, he would be in deep trouble. So while he was walking, he concluded that he would not used any of the techniques that Jiraiya tought him, and he would always make sure he stopped at the ramen stand. Musuko knowing how long he takes to eat, Naruto will only eat a few bowls in order to leave as soon as possible. With that all figured out, Naruto arrived at the creek, but no Jiraiya in sight.

"Please. Please, don't let him be like Kakashi-sensei and always be late." Naruto looking up to the skies in prayer. The blonde then heard a small noise coming from the distance. Looking a bit further down the creek, he could see someone sitting behind a bush.

Sure enough, it was his pervy sensei. Sitting behind the bush, Jiraiya was too busy with looking at the girls in bathing suits to notice Naruto come up behind him.

"You've got so many problems." Naruto said startling Jiraiya and falling onto the ground. The thud was heard by the girls as they turned their heads to the sound.

"What was that?" one of the girls asked.

"Don't know. Must've been a clumsy squirrel." the girls giggled at the image that of said object and went back to continue their play.

Jiraiya got up as not to be seen by the girls. Furiated by Naruto's actions, "First rule: NEVER sneak up on me when I'm doing my research."

"What for? You need to train me." Jiraiya turns around to get a little bit more info, but when he did the girls were on their way back to their homes.

The old ninja moaned, and with a sigh he reluctantly turned back around to Naruto. "Alright, Naruto. Let me say that you are to obey my every word. Right down to the punctuation mark. Agree?" Naruto nodded, "Kay. Now for starters, we'll start off with something you probably haven't heard of: tree climbing."

"Heard of it." Jiraiya was stopped and yet surprised that this kid already knew what this exercise was, "And I finished it too. I'm on water walking right now." Jiraiya became even more surprised. His training schedule had been cut down by just this kid saying that he did it already. Now he could get to some fun stuff.

"Naruto. Do you know anything about, summoning?"

"Not really. Is that what we are learning?" Jiraiya nodded.

"Summoning takes alot of chakra. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be teaching this to a simple genin. But if you can make that many clones without even looking winded, then you can summon." Jiraiya then takes his thumb and bites the end until it begins to bleed. Placing the blood on each finger tip on his hand, he raises it up into the air. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he slammed his hand down onto the ground and a puff of smoke instantly appeared. Once it cleared, there stood Jiraiya, on top of an enormous toad. In it's mouth he held a massive scroll.

The toad unrolled his tongue which was holding the scroll and placed the it on the ground.

"This here is called a 'summoning contract'. Before you can even think about summoning anything, you must sign a summoning contract in order to actually do it. All you need to do is open the scroll, put some of your own blood onto your finger, and write your name in blood on one of the empty spaces."

Naruto obeyed every ordered that he was given. After putting the final touches on his name in blood, the scroll rolled back up and went back into the toads mouth. The toad then puffed away in the smoke and Naruto was left alone with his sensei again.

"Ok, now that that's done. Let's see if you can summon one. Place blood onto your finger tips, perform the needed hand signs, then place the hand on the ground while saying Kuchiyose no Jutsu while concentrating chakra into your hand. Think yo ucan handle it."

The blonde replied with a smirk. Jiraiya showed him the hand signs, Naruto duplicated them, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" his hand hit the ground and a puff of smoke appeared like before. When the smoke appeared, there was only one thing different between Jiraiya's toad and Naruto's. The size.

"Congradulations. You've managed to summon a toad. THE SIZE OF A DANGO!!" the toad was nothing more than a few inches wide, and it looked like any other toad you could find around the creek. "I thought you would have at least summoned one half your size. But no, that seems to be too much for you."

"Hey, I did the best I could. It's not my fault that it came out to be nothing but this!"

"YES IT DOES! The kind of toad depends on how much chakra you put into the summon. But put too much into it and no toad will come to you unless you have the toad boss's consent. And since you haven't even summoned him yet. You better get in some practice. But for now, we're done with summoning. I want you to spend the rest of the time we have doing your water walking exercise. The better your chakra control, the easier you can summon the toad boss." with a huff, Naruto reluctantly obeyed and went to the creek. Meanwhile, Jiraiya looked back over the bushes to see if anything new arrived. He sighed to see no one returned. He had to resort to watching this genin fail at the water walking excercise. Jiraiya let out another sigh.

The time passed, and Naruto still hadn't managed to cross the creek. He was wet from head to toe in his trunks and very frustrated that he spent three whole hours straight on just this one thing and still couldn't do it right.

Jiraiya gave out a long yawn as he stretched himself out. He then stood up, "Time's up Naruto. We'll try finishing this by the end of the week."

"Dangit." Naruto punched the water, "Why can't I do this!?" he was really mad about this. He's been doing this exact same exercise for an entire week now and still made practically no progress at all. He just couldn't seem to get it down. He tried everything, but nothing had worked. He just, couldn't control his chakra. Like Jiraiya, he let out a sigh, packed up, and went back to his apartment with his head bowed down. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. He could feel.

* * *

Morning again. Hinata was making her way to the training grounds to train with Chichi once more. And as she did, she continued off her thoughts that she had yesterday.

_'Why would he help me? I can tell he's not getting any better. And I'm not even in the finals so that's not the reason he chose me. Could it be that he saw my match with Neji? When I first felt the Tenyomon open, he must have wanted to help me improve it. Yeah, that's just probably it.' _without thinking, her hand went to cover her heart, _'But still. I feel that there is more to it. It feels like-like my heart is racing whenever I think about him or Naruto. Is it because, that I have feelings for him just like I do for Naruto?'_ the Hyuuga then remembered what Chichi said when they started training.

'...tell the person who you admire how you truly feel about them.'

_'Yes.' _she stood erect and her face turned serious, _'That is how I truly feel about him. And I will tell him, today.'_

She had reached her destination. Looking around, Chichi was nowhere to be found. She thought that was normal of Chichi as she was usually the earlier of the two. So she went to sitting up against one of the trees thinking over what she was going to say.

She waited for the gray haired shinobi...and waited...and waited.

* * *

"Well Naruto. Good morning to you. I trust you had a good sleep?" Musuko was oddly friendly today to his student, and Naruto noticed that right off the bat.

"What's going on sensei? You're not acting like you usually do." the blonde ninja scratched his head trying to figure out the reason.

"That's because we're going to try something new today." the sky ninja turned and signaled Naruto to follow. Musuko lead him into the forested area of the grounds.

When they had arrived, Naruto noticed someone leaning up against a tree.

"Ah, Brother Chichi. You made it. That's good."

"Hurry up with this. I got to be somewhere right now."

"Oh yes, your training of course." Musuko reverted his gaze to his student, "Naruto, have you ever heard of sealing jutsus?" said ninja nodded in reply, "Good. Because this is not one of those jutsus."

Just then, Naruto could not move his arms. Turning around, he saw Chichi had him in a submission hold.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing?!" Chichi did not respond.

"We are going to do something called a 'Gyakufuin Jutsu'. (Reverse Sealing Technique) You see, this jutsu reverses the effects of all sealing jutsus. For example, a sound seal would not let sound exit from an area. But this would reverse it so that no one in the area could hear sound at all. Or if some one was to seal say, a demon into something. I could bring it out."

Naruto's eyes widened as Musuko raised his orange shirt. The sky ninja formed his left hand into a claw. Blue chakra then surrounded the finger tips.

"Gyakufuin Jutsu!" Musuko plunged his clawed hand into the spiral of Naruto's seal. The chakra covered areas of the fingers sunk into the skin, but showing no signs of peircing the flesh. Was they sunk in, Musuko began turning his hand in a clockwise rotation, and with his hand the seal turned as well. After it had turned a complete 180 degrees, the white haired shinobi pulled out his hand and Chichi released Naruto.

Naruto fell to his knees holding his stomach in pain. He placed one hand on the ground for support, but when he looked at his hand, he saw something; red fur. The fur continued growing up his arm, then it started growing on his other hand. Naruto had now completely forgot the pain in his stomach as he watch his body become covered in fur. Then he noticed that a tail began growing from his behind, then another. His arms by instinct fell to the ground and moved into the position that an animals forelegs would be in. His face extended forward, his canines grew, his ears became pointy. He cried out one last time. But he did not let out a scream, he let out a roar.

Standing in front of the two sky ninjas was the powerful nine-tailed fox demon, Kyuubi.

"You placed the silence barrier correct?" Musuko asked his brother.

"First thing I did when I got here." Chichi replied. "Good." Musuko looked up to the behemoth of a fox.

The fox turned his head back and forth examining his surroundings, then down to see his paws.

**"At last. I have been released."** the fox demon let out a magnificent roar.

"Actually, you have not." Kyuubi's roar stopped as he looked down to see Musuko. He raised his tail up as to make a swipe, but Musuko interrupted, "No no no. If you even try to make an offense, you go straight back into the seal." Musuko remained where he stood.

**"The seal has been broken. I am free to do as I please once again."**

"No. The seal has only been reversed for a period of time. And that period depends on the way you behave. Besides, I have a propasition for you." Kyuubi's massive tail lowered back to wear it once was.

**"You? You have set me free for a mere deal?"** anger rising in the fox's voice.

"I told you. I did not set you free. I could have done that, but the Fourth seemed to have been very good with seals. This one I was lucky to get you out for ten minutes. But that is still plenty of time to give you the proposal." Kyuubi's paw began to move towards Musuko, "Ah ah ah. I can send you right back into the boys seal anytime I want, and then we'll right back where we started."

With a small huff to Kyuubi, but a mighty gust to the sky ninjas, the demon reluctantly complied, **"What is it that you wish?"**

"You have not been pulling your weight in this life. Naruto has lived a life worst than Hell itself since he was born. And all that because of you."

**"I have given him an increase amount of chakra. I paid my due."**

"Yes. But just to keep him alive just enough. Nothing else."

**"What are you getting at human?"**

"I know what you want, and I am willing to help you get it."

Kyuubi's eyes straightened at Musuko's own and he lowered his head to almost touching the ground, **"How could you possibly know what I want. I want out of this wretched prison!"**

"That's not what you truly want though." a pause fell between the two, "What you want is to have the old days back. You want to show your power to everyone and everything on this planet. You want them to fear you, worship you for your power, truly know that there is a true force to be reconned with and cannot be stopped by any mortal. You want that feeling of absolute rule once more."

**"You have peaked my interest."**

"True, your original form is gone and can never be truly free. But you now have a new form, you've had it for thirteen years now, and you've only used it once. Give Naruto your power. True that it won't be your name that everyone comes to fear, but just think that you have been reincarnated. Reincarnated inside a human being that truly has the ability to become the most powerful thing in the world. You will once again have your absolute rule, people will flee on sight when they see Naruto. And those foolish to fight you will suffer a death unimaginable."

**"You speak with wisdom beyond your years."**

"I know. I hate it too."

Kyuubi raised his head back up and went into a sitting position, **"Very well then, I shall give him my power. But on one condition. I will only give him a small amount as of now, the rest will come only when he finds his will to truly kill. He will never be feared if he never kills. Therefore, I will wait for that day to come."**

"Agreed. Since the deal is done, and we still have another three minutes. What else would you like to talk about?"

**"Heh. I like you kid. You show no fear, even though you are speaking to me. Most would have already pissed their pants by now."**

"Fangirls, that's all I have to say." both shivered thinking about what they were truly capable of.

**"Wait."** a sudden silence. Kyuubi put his nose in the air sniffing it.

"Somthing the matter your foxiness?"

**"There's a bijuu within this village. It's strong."**

"I think I know what you might be smelling. Me and my brothers sensed it when we were in the Forest of Death on the first day. It felt like it was coming from that sand ninja.

**"No. The sand demon is Shukaku, and I know his scent. This is different, this is a scent I have not sensed before. Is this...no, it can't be."**

"What?!" Musuko was getting nervous now. But before Kyuubi could answer, he fell to the ground in pain. The hair on his body began receeding and his size began to shrink back into the body of Naruto. The Gyakufuin's time was up.

Naruto layed on the ground out cold. Chichi had vanished as soon as the seal's time was up. Musuko was standing in front of his student waiting for him to wake. Sakura was standing behind a tree knees shaking and hands over her mouth in a gasp.

_'Naruto...Musuko...what are you?'_

Chichi reached the training grounds hoping to apologize to Hinata for being so late. Knowing her, she would forgive him. But when he arrived to greet his sparring partner, she was no where to be found. Thinking that she got tired of waiting and went back to her home, Chichi ventrued on to the compound. This got Chichi a little bit more worried.

When he had reached the compound entrance, he was stopped by two Hyuuga standing as guards.

"I wish to see Hinata Hyuuga." Chichi said.

"I am sorry, but we have strict orders not to allow a boy into the compound that fits your description." Chichi was surprised, he was not allowed in. Someone was not happy with him.

"Look, I'm going to see Hinata. One way or another." Chichi's threat became null as Hiashi, the clan leader and Hinata's father, came to greet the sky ninja.

"You must be Brother Chichi. I have heard lots about you from Hinata."

"Yes, that is who I would like to see, sir. But your guards will not allow me in."

"Their order did not come from me. My daughter made it. She is the heiress to this clan and therefore has the right to give only a few orders. If she wishes that you are not to enter, then you are not to enter."

Chichi began shuffling through his pocket now, "Very well then. But could you-could you just give her this for me." he hands Hiashi a small box.

Hiashi looks at it for a moment, then responds, "She is busy at the moment, but I will put it on her bed to make sure she recieves it."

Chichi gave a bow in means of a thank you. Hiashi returned the bow with a bow of his head, dismissing the sky ninja.

Hinata was walking out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body and a second one in her hands drying off her hair. Her movements were slow and weak like as if her whole body was in sorrow. When she sat down onto her bed finishing up her drying, she felt something hit her side. Looking down, she noticed a small box with a paper attached to it. Untying the letter, Hinata opened it up and read what it said:

_Hey Hinata, it's Chichi_

_Inside this case is something that I hold dear to me. I believe you deserve to have it. Because even though we have only known each other for only two weeks or so, both of us probably feel it's been much much longer than that. I just want you to have this and hope you accept it as I have accepted you._

Hinata opened said box and looked inside, she let out a small gasp and placed her hand over her mouth. Tears started falling as she saw what was inside; a diamond. The diamond was in the shape of a tear drop and was attached by a golden chain that looped around to make a necklace. Hinata pulled the necklace out from its case and examined the beautiful jewel. It reflected off the light as each surface faced the sunlight peeking through the window. Hinata was so overwhelmed with the necklace and Chichi's behavior that she bursted into tears burying her head into her pillow while still holding onto the necklace.

Without her noticing, the diamond began to glow. Right after that, the diamond let out a bright light. Once the light diminished, Hinata heard a familiar voice.

"Hmm. So this is what her room looks like." Hinata lifted her head from her pillow to see Chichi standing with his back to her. Filled with anger of what happened earlier that morning and the fear that he could possibly see her like this, she got off her bed with great speed, pushed the sky ninja through the door and slammed it shut behind him. "Hinata! Opened the door, please." Chichi asked banging on the door.

"No, go away. I don't want to see you right now."

"Hinata, I can't."

"Why?" Hinata's voice is starting to crack, "Why not?"

"Because you shoved into the closet." Hinata made a thud on the door as she hit her head on it, "Hinata, if this is because I was late for the training. I needed to do something for my brother and I lost track of time. Hinata, I'm sorry.

"But I did keep track of time. I sat next to that tree, waiting. Waiting to say...to say..." she stopped talking as she started to sniff and sob.

_'Bugger. Don't tell me that she was going to say that? Of all the days to miss!'_ the door opened up and Hinata was seen with her head bowed down in sadness.

"I like you. I really do like you. That's what I wanted to say to you. ...Please," trying to hold back the tears, "leave."

Chichi got out of the closet. He stopped in front of Hinata and turned. The next thing that Hinata knew, she was in Chichi's arms in an embrace. She started pouring out her tears as she rested her head onto Chichi's chest. "Heh, this is kind of funny. Only two days ago, I was in your position. We've both been hurt. You were hurt in your heart, I was in spirit. Both of which cannot be healed by simple words, but by actions. A simple hug from a friend can be all that one needs. That's what we are Hinata, friends, and maybe something even more." Hinata looked up at the boy. Chichi brushed away a tear falling down her face, "Come stop your crying, it'll be alright. My arms will hold you and keep you safe. Remember Hinata, this bond between us can't be broken. I _will_ be here. Because you will be in my heart. From this day forth, now and forever more." he lifts her hand holding the necklace and takes it. He lifts the necklace over her head and places it around her neck. "Beautiful. It truly is."

Hinata looks down at the diamond. He was right, it really was beautiful on her. From the wonderful gift that she just got, she started crying again.

"Like that jewel, when you need me, I will always be close to you as that necklace is." Hinata's tears stopped flowing as she looked at Chichi with sparkling eyes and a smile, "Hinata? Are you-" he could not continue as a pair of lips had stopped his own from moving, Hinata's lips to be exact. The kiss was short (A/N: no tongue, sickos), but it felt as if it went on for hours. When she removed herself, there was a huge blush on Hinata's face, and there was a blush as well on Chichi's face. "I'm guessin that you have forgiven me?" Hinata giggled and nodded yes. Just then, she remembered something very important; she was still just in a towel.

"Umm, Chichi. Not to sound rude, but, I'm still in my towel and..."

"Say no more, I'll see you tomorrow then?" Hinata nodded once more, and with that Chichi went out the correct door.

Hinata fell back onto her bed, feeling lighter than a feather and happier than if she had if she had kissed Naruto. Wait. What about Naruto? Did she still have feelings for him? Or had that all just been some sort of fangirl phase? Looking down at her chest, she saw the necklace again. She then knew that there was no doubt. She truly only cared for Chichi. He was her friend, he recongnized her for her and not an heiress. He was the first to ever give her a present this great. And he was the first to ever share his feelings to her, not to mention cry in her arms. Chichi was indeed the one for her, and no one else would tell her otherwise. She grasped the diamond tear and smiled from ear to ear in joy.

* * *

"Awww. My stomach." Naruto groaned as he had finally woken up, "What happened to me?"

"Bad ramen I think." Musuko said, "You just fell down in the middle of our training exercise. That little accident of yours had lost us a lot of time. So I guess we'll just continue with your water walking." Naruto groaned again, but not because of his stomach. He knew he would be getting no where with this stupid exercise.

Getting into his swimsuit, he headed to put his first foot into the water.

"Just relax and concentrate on keeping your feet above the water." Musuko instructed. Naruto simply shrugged it off, as he knew he wouldn't get far anyways. He had completely given up on this exercise, to him, it was useless.

But since his teacher told him to, he had to. He put out a foot and placed it on the water. He moved it forward some more as he accidently hit the ground. Once again, he had hit the ground. Naruto was a bit confused as well as angry about why he was hitting the ground instead of water. Looking down, those two emotions turned to shock and delight.

His foot had touched the water, but the landing was so firm that it felt like he was walking on the ground. He took andother step, not one ripple was made, and his foot didn't even go down a centimeter into the water. He took and another, and another. He started running around on top of the water, not once had he even moved downward into the water.

He did it! He didn't know how he did it, but he did it. One day he was barely keeping his feet above the water for ten steps, now he can run around without even thinking that there is water underneath him. Finally, he had completed the water walking exercise.

"Sensei! I'm doing it, I'm actually doing it!" Naruto was grinning the biggest grin he could make.

Musuko shared in his grin, _'So, Kyuubi kept his part of the deal.'_ clapping his hands, Musuko caught Naruto's attention, "Good job. You have finally completed the exercise. Our training for today is done, Tomorrow, we will start on the Taifuu Kasoku again." Naruto grin went even wider, if that was at all possible. With an almost skip to his step now, Naruto ran off to the ramen stand. Musuko was glad that Naruto had no memory of his attack, and yet, Musuko was somewhat worried. Something got to the Kyuubi, but the question was; What?

* * *

We find Jiraiya sitting behind a bush once again with his notebook out. He had found more girls that decided to play in the creek that day. He was in the middle of writing down possibly his best book ever, but was interrupted by a "Hey!" Jiraiya dived down back into the brush as not to be detected, he turned around to see that it was once again Naruto.

"I seem to be able to sneak up on a ninja higher than a Jounin." Naruto said to himself, but mocking Jiraiya at the same time, "Either you aren't really even Jounin level, or I'm much higher than Jounin myself."

"Shut up you little brat. I have already told you not to sneak up on me when I'm doing research! And beside that it's early, why are you even here?"

"My sensei let me out early. I needed to you to show me the handsigns for the summoning jutsu again."

"Please, last time we tried this, your toad was smaller than the one before."

"But I believe I can do this time. Please, just give me one more chance."

Jiraiya pondered over this. Why bother, it won't hurt anyone, "Alright. Once more, but if you don't summon any thing even near the size of you, then it's back to the water walking exercise." Naruto nodded accepting the deal. And with that, Jiraiya showed this student the signs once more for summoning.

Naruto followed his instructions perfectly. Slamming his hand down on the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" an massive cloud of smoke appeared, covering most of the area. And when the smoke cleared, Jiraiya himself was surprised what had appeared.

"Oi. Who has summoned me?" an old voice came from a unbelievably giant toad wearing a cloak and a pipe in it's mouth. This is what Naruto had summoned.

"Yo Gamabunta! It's me Jiraiya." the old ninja yelled out to the toad.

"Jiraiya? Have you summoned me?" the toad asked.

"No, not this time. The one on top of your head has." the toad responded by looking up onto his head, there stood Naruto with his foxy grin.

"What! This puny child was the one who had summoned me! I will not accept this!" Gamabunta began shaking his body, trying to shake off the orange pimple on his head.

"Wait, Gamabunta. Give him a chance. Just yesterday, he was just summoning common toads and nothing more. Now, on his first summon since then, he has summon you. Now I don't know, but I think that is quite a leap in my book."

"Hmm." the toad took a puff of his pipe as he thought, "Yes, that would be indeed quite a leap. But he is still needs to have a drink with me in order to seal the deal."

"WHAT!?" Naruto cried out, "I'm not even of age yet!"

"Do not worry, when you are of age the deal with be set. But until then, you may only summon my family for battles that are absolutely neccesary, and you owe me a drink." with that, the toad disappeared into another puff of smoke and giving Naruto a hard landing on the ground.

"Well, congradulations Naruto. You have successfully summoned your first true toad. And that one toad just happened to be the toad boss. Believe me when I say, I am really proud of you." Jiraiya shuffled up the blonde's hair with a smile of satisfaction. Naruto smiled as well. "Well, I guess I can give you a day off today. You deserve it." Naruto bowed farewell and ran off to where ever. "That kid has got real potential."

* * *

Training had continued on for Naruto under the tutelage of both Musuko and Jiraiya for the rest of the month. He had come to fully develop his Taifuu Kasoku thanks to his success in the water exercise. Musuko has been sparring partners with him from then on so as to not overflow Naruto's inventory with techniques. Jiraiya has also been teaching the blonde about stealth and hos to gather information on the target, but really it was just peeping and writing down what was going on. Naruto did not want to have any part of that at all. He had improved greatly over the next few months and could possibly already be at chunin level, but that was for the finals to decide.

Hinata and Chichi remained friends, but now instead of leaving with a simple good bye, they give each other hugs or the occasional kiss on the cheek. Hinata had completely mastered the Jyuuken style of fighting after about two weeks, and she has also added some extra stuff into it to make it her own. The style even rubbed of on Chichi, as the fact that attacking the pressure points of the human body with just poking at the body was all to him intruiging. The two also began spending more time with each other outside of training, sometimes even with the rest of team 8.

Sasuke, as we have not mentioned him at all, has been training with Kakashi. But with the strange curse mark intervening with the training, Kakashi had no choice but to place on the mark a sealing technique to prevent the marks influence over Sasuke. Though a bit furiated that he could not use the mark again, Kakashi reassured the Uchiha that is was better that he didn't use it.

Seirei had stopped going to the top of the Hokage Monument, which made it harder for Temari to find him. He was pretty hard to find for most everybody, even for his brothers. It was as if he did not want to be seen by the village.

Sakura has been remained terrified of the sight that she had saw with Naruto and Musuko. She just wanted to find out as to what Naruto and Musuko were doing and possibly ask if she could join. But when she reached the woods to find him, then it happened and a giant red fox resembling the one in her textbook appeared from Naruto. She was confused as to what to do. So she made sure she kept her distance between herself and the sky ninjas and Naruto until she was ready to confront them.

The time has passed, and all have gathered to the arena to see the Chunin Exam finals. It was truly promised to be the time of their life. Especially for the people of Konoha.

* * *

**done and done! over 20,000 words in this one chapter. The most I have ever written. Even for my schools short-story project.**

**As you can see, Chichi's pairing has already been made, and there will be no harems. I have already decided about Musuko's pairing as well. But the true question that I have for my readers is if Seirei should get hooked up. I am torn between these three choices:**

**- He will be paired up with Temari and Kankuro is gonna get pissed.**

**- He already has a love one in his own village, which will take a longer to time to reveal.**

**- Or save the mushy gushy stuff and say he has no pairing and is flying solo.**

**This choice will be left to readers out there. I have plans made for either one of them, so I'm am not favoring any choice right now. Please vote in the polls and not as a review. I would rather have flames than just votes showing up as reviews. But please don't flame, and please vote, and please review. Until next chapter which I can't promise will be shorter. Also, I am looking for Beta Readers. If anyone is interested, please send me a private message. The beta searcher is down as of now.**

**Until we meet again, so long.**


	10. Finals

Chapter Ten of the amazing fic of **Sky Ninja** has arrived.

We are now in the finals of the Chunin Exams, and if anyone cannot remember who is fighting who then here is a small recap:

_Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji_

_Nara Shikamaru vs. Brother Seirei_

_Brother Chichi vs. Uchiha Sasuke_

_Brother Musuko vs. Gaara_

_Yamanaka Ino vs. Kankuro_

This is the order that they are fighting in. If you guys want to make bets now, by all means go for it.

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, but if it is up for grabs, sign me up!**

Now on with the fic.

* * *

Today was the big day. Everyone had gathered at the arena to watch the event. The finals for the Chunin Exams were about to take place when the fighters had all gathered in the center at the given time.

While that time was coming, all the ninjas who had not made it into the finals had entered in and sat down around the arena.

Team 8 had entered along with Sakura and Chouji, the only ones who had not made it into the finals, took seats near each other. Their senseis took different spots around the arena. Rock Lee was still in the hospital trying to recover from the last fight against Gaara. Everyone who was a finalist was in the center of the arena, greeted by a new official. He had his head bandana on backwards and also a senbon needle in his mouth like it was a toothpick.

"Good morning, I'll be your new official for these matches, Genma. You all know who you will be facing and when they are. Now with the Hokage's permission, we will begin the first match which consists Uzumaki Naruto of Team 7 and Hyuuga Neji of Team 9." Genma turned to look at the Hokage who was sitting in his private box where the Kazekage was also.

The Hokage looked at all the fighters who had reached the finals, especially the three Sky Ninja. He had remembered what had happened last night, when he brought in all the senseis once more.

* * *

(Last Night; In Hokage Office)

Sarutobi was sitting behind his desk looking at Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai, Asuma, and Anko.

"Alright, a month has past since the prelims. The subject of this meeting is still the same, information on these Sky Ninja. Anyone who has anything considering this, please step forward and speak." the first to step forward was Kurenai, "Yes Kurenai, tell us what you have."

"Well," she couldn't find the right words, but she tried the best she could, "Hinata has been training with one of them." the jounins and Hokage all looked at her in shock.

"And you allowed this?" Sarutobi proclaimed with both surprise and a little bit of frustation in his voice, "She has the Byakugan, one of the most powerful bloodlines Konoha has. If they manage to find a weakspot in it, they can be a trouble if they are our enemy."

"You still don't trust in them do you?" Kurenai said, "They have not yet made a wrong move against our genin or any one elses. More importantly to me, Hinata has made a friend, and that is something that I don't want her to lose ever."

"You know the ninja world as well as I do, Kurenai. Alliances are as easily broken as cutting a string, and can be remade in the same day. I will not trust them, until they show loyalty to this village."

"They've shown it to my team, and to me as well." and just like that, Kurenai made her way to the door. Before exiting, Kurenai said one more thing, "The one with the gray hair. He was able to defeat Kiba without a sweat. If he can do that, he is easily on the Chunin level. Don't underestimate them if they do turn on us." after that, she left without another word.

The Hokage getting back to business, "Does anyone else have any news?" the room became quiet as the jounins started looking at each other, "No one? What about you Kakashi?"

"I have been too busy with training Sasuke for the Finals."

"How has that been going along?" Sarutobi asked.

"The mark on his neck has been well sealed and no longer has an influence on him. But every now and then, he manages to pull off some manuevers that only someone with a Byakugan could use."

"Has he been able to use the Sharingan?"

"Yes he uses it. That's when he's able to do the manuevers. Everytime I see him doing it, he seems to be a completely different person though."

"Anything else? What about Naruto or Sakura?"

"I haven't seen Naruto at all since the day he badgered me to train him. And Sakura, she's been kind of ify lately. Everytime I've seen her, I'd ask her about Naruto or how things were, she would then hesitate and say everything was alright. I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong with her though."

"Women, you can never truly find out how they'll act." the Hokage commented, recieving a glare from Anko. "Anyways, it seems that no one else has anything else to say, correct?" all shook their heads no, "Very well then, you are all dismissed." everyone left the room.

* * *

(Present Time)

_'We still have little info on how they can fight. And now, one of them knows how a Hyuuga fights. I just hope that are friends and not foe.'_ the Hokage escaped his thoughts and replied to Genma with a nod of his head to commence the tournament.

Genma looking back at the ten genin, "Alright. Naruto and Neji, you stay here. As for the rest of you, see yourselves to the waiting area on the side of the arena." the other shinobi complied and left the area, leaving the blonde and the Hyuuga facing each other. "Ok guys, the rules are the same being that there are no rules. I will stop the battle when I see fit that it is over." stepping back from the two, Genma continues talking, "Fighters are you ready?"

"Been ready since a month ago!" Naruto said, "You're going to pay for what you did to Hinata."

Neji simply snuffed at what the blonde said, "She was fated to lose. And your fate is the same as well."

"All this fate talk and yet you have no idea of what I'm capable of."

"It does not matter, you will lose one way or the other."

"You just like to get into people's heads don't ya?"

"I don't need to if you are to lose." this was really getting Naruto annoyed. All this talk about fate and him losing, he just wanted to knock this guy into next week.

_'Come on Naruto, show him what you are truly capable of now.' _Musuko said to himself, _'Show him your definition of fate.'_

"The first match of the Chunin Finals begins, now!"

With Genma's hand lowering to start the match, Naruto's hands rose into a cross sign, "Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" seven Naruto's appeared in a second in a V formation with the ends nearest to Neji. The two clones at the ends moved from their spots and went after their target. The clone on the left did a sliding kick at Neji while the right one went for a head punch. Neji saw this coming a mile away though and grabbed right clones fist before it could even touch him.

"You gotta do better than that to beat me." Neji threw the right clone over his shoulder and slammed him into the second clone making them both puff out of existance. "But then again, the victor has already been chosen."

Grinding his teeth, Naruto signalled four more clones to go after the silver eyed genin. They each took a position diagonal of where Neji was standing and then charged him, hoping to overcome him by numbers. "Why bother, when I have already been chosen to win." Neji said as ducked two of the clones. They punched each other in the face and puff out. While as the other two came in, Neji extended out his right fist and left foot in opposite directions and connected with the clones and they too puffed away. "Heh, just as expected from the dead last ninja." just then, he felt something hit him in the back. Neji came bursting through the cloud of smoke and saw that he was heading straight at Naruto. Neji quickly reacted by landing on his hands and doing a spring kick into Naruto's chest sending the blonde into the air and also puffing out.

Looking about, Neji saw Naruto standing where he himself was recently. Thinking over as to what just had happened, _'Of course. When the clones dispersed, they covered the area with smoke, giving Naruto the perfect cover for a sneak attack from behind. And I would have recieved even more damage from this clone here if I had not reacted.' _Looking back at Naruto who was smiling now, _'He has gotten better.'_

"Now. About this fate trash that you've been talking about. Did it say anything about me getting in the first punch? Or was that just a coincidence?"

"Hmph." Neji smirked as he wiped away imaginary dust from his shoulder, "It was coincidence, because it won't happen again." Neji closed his eyes, and when he opened them, veins appeared around them. "Byakugan!"

Naruto looked into his opponents eyes, seeing the change in them. "So this is the Byakugan." he then remembered to about a week ago, what his sensei, Musuko, had told him.

* * *

(A week ago)

Naruto was relaxing after a long spar with Musuko that he had just lost to. As he sat there, Musuko came up to him to chat.

"Naruto, you improved greatly over the time we have been training with each other. I only have one question for you; Do you think you can beat Neji?"

The blonde looked up to the white haired shinobi with a question on his face, "Of course I can beat Neji. With what you've taught and what I've been doing on my own time, there's no doubt I can."

"Then let me rephrase the question. Do you think you can beat the Byakugan?" Naruto's questionable face turned into one that of deep thinking, "The Byakugan allows one to see everything around him. A From-Behind-Attack would then become useless as he would know you were there before you attacked." pausing for a second, "Neji graduated at the top of his class. He is highly intelligent, and not to mention is exceptionally good with the Byakugan. Defeating him will be no easy task."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "How do you know so much about Neji?"

"I know too many things. But that's not the point that I'm trying to make with you Naruto. The point that I'm trying to make is that you have to find a way to surprise the all-seeing eye. And for the next week until the tournament, we are gonna find a way to beat it. I don't care if it even beats it, even just aiding you a bit is better than nothing."

* * *

"Musuko-sensei was right about one thing, it won't beat it, but it will help out." with that, Naruto performed the same handsign and this time created thirty clones surrounding Neji.

"You bring on even one hundred of your clones Naruto, it will not matter. Fate has already taken hold of this match, you will lose." all the clones snarled.

All at once the clones jumped into the air to dive bomb onto the Hyuuga. Neji moved into a position that Naruto had not seen before. To be careful, Naruto had one clone grab another. The clones then threw the ones they had at Neji. The thrown clones extended their feet to give a high impact kick. The Naruto clones were just about to hit Neji, when all of a sudden, "Kaiten!" the Hyuuga began spinning. As he spun, chakra surrounded him to create a swirling sphere around him. As the clones made contact, they instantly were shot away and puffed out. The other clones seeing this stop going towards the spinning Neji until he had stopped. They landed a few yards away from Neji as his spinning ceased, and when he completely stopped, that was the signal for the clones to hit him head on. Even though Neji had stopped, that didn't mean he was vulnerable, now that his number were smaller, he began dodging attacks while at the same time striking the clones out of existance. Remembering what had happened last time, Neji continued moving from place to place as not to be left in the smoke.

In the end, all of the clones were defeated, and without even a bead of sweat from Neji. Neji became overconfident as he stood there watching Naruto grinding his teeth.

"Like I said, fate has deemed you the loser." Neji said mockingly as he cracked his knuckles.

"Enough!" Naruto couldn't hold it any longer, he pulled up his hands and he formed the cross seal again.

"Heh, more clones? Go ahead, this time I- wait." Neji stopped as he saw Naruto move his hands into another seal, and another, and another, "This is not the same jutsu."

"Fuuton: Taifuu Kasoku!" a large gust was felt by Neji as it came from Naruto's direction.

"A wind element jutsu!?" Neji narrowed his eyes, "He can't possibly know an element jutsu let alone know what his is. It takes too much chakra."

Just then, Naruto ran at his opponent, but with greater speed than any of his clones had. Neji was so surprised at the speed, but was able to react to the attack in time to block. Naruto then threw in his leg which went as fast as he had ran and made contact with Neji's side. He was thrown to the side.

"Did your fate consider this? Or was this just another coincidence?" Naruto mocking his opponent, but Neji did not respond immediatly. He stood up and gave a small chuckle, "What's so funny."

"Heh heh, I told you fate had deemed me the victor. You may know a wind jutsu, but you are still the loser."

"And why is that?" Naruto asked.

"You're in range." Neji then moved into another stance. He crouched down with his arms extended in opposite diretions, one in front, one in back. "Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou." and Naruto's nightmare had begun.

One after another, the hands struck Naruto's body. He could feel his coils close up with each blow and the pain the came with it. When the final point had been made, Naruto fell on his face. Neji backed away from the blonde as not to be scuffed by the dust that was lifted from his fall.

"Hmph. You were deemed the loser by fate. And the loser you are. I have closed all of your chakra coils. There is no possible way you can defeat me now." he then turned to Genma, "Official, please end this battle."

Genma nodded and raised his hand, "The victor of the first battle,"

"Has not been decided, yet." Neji, Genma, and everyone else in the audience looked at Naruto, he was standing up.

"Impossible." Neji declared, "You shouldn't be able to even move."

"I told you. I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to Hinata." then to Neji's amazement, Naruto took a step forward, "And believe me, you're gonna pay." the blonde then placed his hands together in prayer form.

Neji took a step back, _'What is this? Such chakra. There shouldn't be any. But this...this is different from before.'_ just as he finished, a burst of chakra came from Naruto, red chakra.

As the chakra enveloped his body, he created more of his clones. Each clone appeared in front of the other doing a frame-by-frame action of Naruto pulling back his fist for a punch, all this in under one second. The final clone that was produced was right in front of Neji with his fist back all the way and once he appeared, he threw said fist right into the Hyuuga's face and sending him onto his back a few yards away. The line of clones remained where they were as Neji stood up from the punch.

"I don't know how you managed to reopen your chakra coils, but I will still win. Fate has said so that-"

"You know something?" the front Naruto clone interrupted, "No one knows their fate. People claim they do, but in the end, they are always people who just use it as an excuse and then fall on their faces."

"You know nothing of fate!" Neji shouted out with rage in his voice, "We who are born in the branch family-"

"The branch family?!" Naruto interrupted once more, "That's what this is all about. You being in the branch family? I don't care what they thought of you, but if you think you've been living in a virtual hell. You're not even fit to have the name Hyuuga."

"What did you just say to me?" Neji still in rage.

"You have a family, Neji?"

"Yes, but my father-"

"That doesn't matter to me right now!" Neji was caught off guard by Naruto's shouting, "You have a family. They love you. They nutured you. You had someone to look up to. Someone who would protect you from others. If you think that is hell, you are sadly mistaken."

"You don't understand." Neji made a move to his forehead protector, "The branch family has a mark, branded on our foreheads." Neji then pulled away the protector and the bandages to reveal the seal, "Everyday, the branch live in fear that the Main house members will one day use it on us and kill us."

Naruto lowered his head, but with a smile on it, "Heh. Living in fear. Is that all?" Neji almost gasped at the reaction Naruto had, "I too have a mark, but it's not like yours." Naruto pulled away a part of his shirt to reveal his left shoulder and chest. Scars were everywhere along with some bruises and stitches as well, "These did not come from training or in fights, but I will admit that some came from shuriken and kunai." some people in the audience went wide eyed at the sight. Including most of the genin. "All my life, from the day I was born, I lived in fear that one day I would die. But not by some stupid mark, but by people who wanted to kill me for reason I did not know. I had no family to protect me, no friends, it was just me and people who were by far stronger than me. You think you lived in hell. Think again."

Neji was taken back at this, but he did not let anyone see it. He thought that he had it bad. How is father died in place of his uncle. How Hinata was treated ten times better even though see was ten times weaker than he was and a disgrace to the clan. To him, he did believe that fate had did this to him, he could see no other way around it. But then Naruto, he really did have it worst. He was treated like the rat of the streets for his entire life, even by ninjas from the very same village. And yet, he still kept that happy demeanor about him. He had a new respect for Naruto, but none the less, Neji simply replied in the following way,

"Hmph. I told you, that is fate. And fate had deemed to live in misery."

Naruto had not succeeded in changing Neji's view on fate. So he did what he knew he had to do, beat the tar out of Neji.

The two saw the signal in each other that they were ready to continue. Both smirked and got into position.

Naruto started the battle again by going through a series of the same hand signs for the Taifuu Kasoku.

"That's not gonna work for you a second time Naruto." Neji said with confidence, "My teammate has gone much faster than you and I can still beat him."

"Well that does put a small damper in my plan, but..." Naruto moved to remind Neji of his line of clones, "Have you ever fought more than one of your teammate at once?"

Neji's eyes narrowed. With that speed and the numbers, he was going to have troubles.

In a flash, the clones went at Neji full force.

"Kaiten!" Neji spun around followed with his chakra field. The clones had no way of stopping in time and so hit dead on into the field and puffed out, leaving only the real Naruto left. "You can bombard me all you want, I won't get tired of seeing your clones fly away with those stupid faces."

"Oh don't worry. The next move, you won't even be able to see." Naruto placed his hands into the same cross sign again. The entire arena was then filled with clones, each looking at Neji with a sinister grin which Neji returned the grin as well.

"Heh, here it comes." all the clones spoke at once.

Neji prepared himself, getting in a readied stance as well as activating his Byakugan.

The Hyuuga began strategizing in his head, _'There are twenty in front, to my right and left, and behind. If I can use the Kaiten again then use my usual taijutsu against the remaining clones. This should be just like before. Then I will go after the real Naruto. With this number of clones, he should be practically drained of his chakra. This match is over.' _

That was what Neji had thought. Naruto had beaten him in three simple moves.

One: the clones had all moved the hands into the same signs.

Two: all the clones then cried out, "Oiroke no Jutsu!" Instantly, all clones turned into...well, you all can probably guess. The traditional nude female Naruto covered in smoke. Neji, with his Byakugan activated, saw everything. It didn't matter if there was smoke, he saw it, he saw fourty women, all nude. Completely overwhelmed by the sudden sight, Neji covered his eyes and deactivated his Byakugan.

"Ah! Wha- what the heck is wrong with you?! You sick twisted perv-"_ 'Wait!'_

Three: While Neji's eyes were covered, the real Naruto charged at him in his original form and gave an uppercut to Neji's chin. Neji went up into the air only to then land on his back and the clones poofing out of exitstance.

Neji and Naruto were the only ones left in the arena with the spectators looking on with different expressions. Those expressions being of anger, joy, shock, confusion, amazed, and just plain pervertedness. Naruto had beaten the top genin of that year with his own jutsu, his own sick, twisted, justu.

Genma approached the center of the stage and raised his hand, "This match is over. The winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

After a few seconds of silence, the crowd went into an applause for the blonde's victory. Naruto gave his foxy grin to the others and went over to Neji's side as he still layed on the ground.

"Hey, you alright." Naruto asked. Neji simply smiled and said, "I'll beat you next time." he raised his hand weakly which Naruto took to shake. After the shake, some medics appeared and carried Neji off the arena. Naruto then did the same.

"You...have got to be kidding me." Sakura had her fists clenched tight and her teeth grinding, "You're telling me that Naruto won...WITH THAT!?"

"You gotta admit Sakura, he used his head on that won." Sakura turned to Hinata who was a bit shy to look at the pink haired girl in the face, "He found a weakness and went for it. The Byakugan allows the person to see 360 degrees around themselves as well as look through objects. With Neji's Byakugan activated, and being a gentlemen, Naruto used that jutsu because he knew that Neji would be the polite one and shiled his eyes. But that wouldn't be enough just to close one's eyes if they have the Byakugan active, they could still see through their eyelids. Therefore, Neji had to deactivate the Byakugan, leaving him completely blind and open to any attack." Sakura was astonished at how well Naruto had planned this out, and also that Hinata wasn't stuttering through her words. Hinata finished, "Neji was just lucky that Naruto didn't use a weapon to finish the match."

"Wow." Sakura said, looking down at the walking Naruto, "I never thought he could be that capable. I mean, last I saw of him, he just managed to beat Chouji, and I know Neji could have easily beaten him then."

Hinata giggled, still not making eye contact, "A lot can change in a month. I'm one of those examples. I was timid and incredibly shy, but now thanks to Chichi, I have become less of who I was and more of what a kunoichi should be."

"Wait. Chichi? You mean one of those Sky Ninja?" Sakura asked.

Hinata nodded, "He helped me, and I helped him. And now, we are the best of friends." Hinata moved her hand to the diamond tear around her neck to remember Chichi's promise to her.

Sakura noticed the tear and almost felt crushed and at the same time jealous. The Sky Ninja have only been there for one month, and one had already given a gift to Hinata. Meanwhile, Sakura had known Sasuke since the beginning of the academy and not once had he even complimented her on anything. She started to think of how pathetic she was for not even being able to get a guy to like her while Hinata had, being the shyest of them all. She thought it was hopeless for her, then it hit her. That night before the Forest of Death, Musuko. He was the first person to knock some sort of sense into her head about what a kuniochi really was. He even kissed her on the head saying he cared about her. Maybe, maybe Sakura had-

"The next match is about to start!" Sakura's train of thought was broken as Genma annouced the next match, "Will Nara Shikamaru and Brother Seirei please make your way to the center of the arena." the two ninja's obeyed and faced each other.

"Hey, you're pretty tall," Shikamaru said looking slightly up to Seirei, "Hope you won't be so troublesome for me."

"That all depends," Seirei responded, "if you are the genius these people say you are."

"Ready?" Genma asked, the two nodded, "The second match of the finals, begin!"

* * *

(In the medical room)

Neji was lying in a bed unable to move for the moment from the uppercut. All he could do was lay there, thinking.

_'How? How could I be so blind? I should have known he would do something stupid like that. But why? Why did I lose? Fate deemed me the victor.'_ Neji stopped thinking when he heard foot steps nearing his bed. Moving his eyes to his left, he saw gray hair and a sky ninja forehead protector. Chichi.

"What do you want?" Neji, almost speaking down to Chichi, continued, "I don't need to see the likes of you or any of your kind in here."

"Too bad." Chichi replied, "You're gonna have to live with my company for awhile." he then sat down in a chair next to the Hyuuga. "Now, tell me, did your 'fate' have anything about you losing to a jutsu like that." Neji didn't answer, "You see, you won't answer the question because you have just found out your fate crap is in fact, crap."

"No. Fate has deemed my life a misery. All because my father was born second."

Chichi shook his head, "I don't know anything about your father or what happened. But I can give you proof that fate does not control your life." Neji's eyes turned away from Chichi showing that he didn't want to hear. Too bad for Neji, but Chichi went on, "Your last fight against your cousin, Hinata." Neji's eyes went back to the sky ninja after hearing Hinata's name, "What do you think happened to her after your fight?"

"With my striking at her heart, she should have been in critical condition when she left the arena floor. But that was all fate. She was deemed to lose."

"And if she were to die?" Chichi's voice sounding a bit more tense.

Neji sensed the change and retorted, "Then it was because fate deemed it so." Chichi's fist clenched tightly ready to punch out Neji right where he laid. But instead, he started laughing.

Swinging his fist in front of Neji's face in a playful manner, he said, "I only wish that I had fought you instead of Naruto. He may have left you temporarily immoble. But I," he chuckled a bit, "I would have left you without legs." he pulled his fist away and returned to his seat.

"Anyways, back to Hinata. You were right about what had happened to her after the match. She was in serious condition."

Neji said in disbelief, "But if she was, she would be limping around or in pain. She has seemed completely fine over the past month."

"Like I said, she was in serious condition. In fact, your little stunt...actually killed her." Neji's eyes widened as Chichi continued, "So does that was fate? She was supposed to die in the match? Your cousin, of all people, you decide to take her life. Yes Neji you did kill her, don't bother trying to deny it or even try to reason with it. It's just lucky for her that me and my team have a medic jutsu just in case of such occasions. With it, she was perfectly healed as if it was her first day out of the academy." Chichi stopped talking to let it all soak into Neji's big head.

After awhile, Chichi started again, "So, can you tell me why she avoided death? It can't be by fate, because if it was, she'd be still dead." Neji had no answer, he was left speechless, "Hinata is living proof that fate does not exist. As is Naruto. You said fate had deemed him the loser, and yet he won. You said fate deemed Hinata that she would be a loser forever, and yet she could possibly be able to beat even you. Now tell me, is your so called 'fate' still in existance for you?" Neji returned his gaze to the ceiling. Chichi rose from his seat, readjusting his kunai on his shoulder, "I leave you to think about what has happened in this room. Hopefully, you will come to your senses." and with that said, the sky ninja exited.

* * *

Seirei made a move to the handle of his sword, but Shikamaru acted faster and pulled three shuriken out of his pouch. The lazy ninja then threw them at the sky ninja and jumped away from his opponent. Seirei responded to the shuriken by turning with his back facing the shuriken and him slowly pulling the sword of his back. The shuriken hit the blade and landed on the ground as Seirei held the sword in his hand.

Shikamaru was now ten yards away from Seirei and began thinking to himself, gathering up information, _'That sword of his can be used as both a shield and a weapon. He is able to use wind jutsus so long range attacks will be even worse for me. But if I go into close combat, then he's got his sword.' _he then began to moan, _'This is going to be so troublesome.' _

"Hmph." Temari huffed with a small grin. Kankuro noticed this and asked what for, "That Shikamaru kid is keeping his distance. He's not staying too far as to avoid a possible wind attack, and he's not getting close enough for a sword attack. He's at perfect range to keep a watch on what Seirei will do next. There's only one thing that he doesn't know."

"And that is?"

"Seirei has no wind affinity." Kankuro then had a confused look.

"Then how did he use that wind jutsu against you before hand?" Kankuro asked.

"See that ball, that's what took my chakra before, it wil take Shikamaru's as well." the two looked at Seirei, wondering what he could possibly do in this match.

Back with Seirei and Shikamaru, Seirei placed the tip of his sword on the ground.

"So, you going for the whole medium range? Excellent choice." he then lifts up his sword into the air, "That means you're easier to get." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as Seirei swung his sword and created a whirlwind which was aimed straight at the lazy ninja. Shikamaru acted as quickly as he could and jumped to the right of the whirlwind stream only to recieve a small gust that he had to cross his arms in front of him to keep standing up.

When the wind died down, Shikamaru lowered his hands only to see that Seirei had disappeared. Shikamaru started looking around when he had found him, or actually, Seirei found him. The gap in Seirei's sword had Shikamaru's spinal cord in it with Seirei standing right behind him.

"Nice try Shikamaru." Seirei said, "But I know a fake when I see one." Seirei then swung his sword around himself and sliced Shikamaru in two. Some people in the audience gasped at the carniage, but others looked on as the two pieces of Shikamaru poofed into a sliced log. Kawamiri.

After the logs landed on the ground, Seirei placed his massive sword onto his shoulder standing in the center of the arena, looking at the trees along the walls.

"Come out come out wherever you are." he sang out lightly.

Shikamaru could be found crouching behind a tree facing the back of Seirei.

_'Ah, this is so troublesome. He has perfect range with the sword and wind jutsus. I can't get near him!'_ with that final thought, Shikamaru took his hands and placed the tips of his fingers together as he also closed his eyes. After about half a minute, Shikamaru opened his eyes, _'Got it.'_

Seirei stood where he had been, waiting impatiently.

"Well. Think I gave him enough time to think this over." Seirei said to himself as he removed his sword from on his shoulder, "Hey Shikamaru, hope you didn't forget about this." Seirei then tapped the ground with the tip of the sword. The light blue ball at the base of the sword then came sliding off and onto the ground.

Shikamaru turned around from where he was behind the tree and saw the ball, _'Oh, what a drag! That's how he got that girl's wind chakra. If that hits me, then he'll be able to use the shadow possession too!'_ Shikamaru turned back and placed his head against the tree to continue thinking, _'If I move, he'll probably see me then I'm toast. But if I stay, he that ball could hit me and then I'm toast that way.'_ the lazy ninja decided to stay where he was and hope that Seirei didn't hit him.

Seirei went into the putting position with his sword like he did with Temari, he pulled back the sword to hit the ball. Now was Shikamaru's chance. In mid-swing, Shikamaru jumped from his hiding place, still behind Seirei, and formed the rat seal. His shadow shot out at the sky ninja to capture him.

"Got ya." Shikamaru said as the shadow neared Seirei. However, Shikamaru spoke too soon, because when his shadow got about six inches away from Seirei's feet, it stopped. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as Seirei turned around with a smile.

"Excellent, you showed yourself." the sky ninja looked down to the shadow near his feet, "You didn't think I forgot what you could do. I made sure I kept my distance from any shadows." Seirei then returned to his putting position, this time facing Shikamaru, "Now, hold still." Seirei swung his sword and struck the ball hard.

The ball went right at Shikamaru. Luckily enough, Shikamaru had achieved a new limbo skill and bent back as the ball went flying over his body. The ball hit the wall behind Shikamaru and bounced off into another direction, then another. It continued to bounce around not hitting either Shikamaru or Seirei. Shikamaru was able to dodge the ball when it came near him, but Seirei remained where he stood not even getting knicked by the ball.

Naruto stood up in the fighter's box watching the ball bounce around like crazy, "Why hasn't it hit Seirei?"

Musuko answered him as he walked up to Naruto's side, "Seirei is not the smartest of all three of us, but when it comes to angles, there's none better than Seirei." looking back at Seirei who was calmly standing still, "He has calculated the angle of trajectory for each bounce and knows where it will be in the next second."

"Angle of what?" the blonde questioned.

"Basically Naruto, he knows how to make the ball hit where he wants it too." Musuko tried to simplify it. Naruto nodded with mouthing the word 'oh'.

The ball continued bouncing around the arena. Finally, Seirei said something as the ball flew by him, "You just won't keep still will you?"

"I don't think I have any good reason to do so." Shikamaru responded.

"Then I should probably make sure it hits the next time then." and with that, Seirei flung his sword behind his back. The ball bounced off the wall behind Seirei as it came and slid into the gap of the blade. As it did, Seirei swung the sword forward and pointed it towards Shikamaru. With the forward momentum, the ball shot out of the sword and went at the lazy ninja and three times its original speed. Shikamaru had no time to react as the ball went right through his chest, bounced off the wall, went through him again, and back into the sword, "That my friend is what you call, 'Perfect Geometry'."

_'Incredible.' _Shikamaru was completely baffled, _'There's more to him than he lets on. I can't be entirely sure as to what he's going to do next. He provides me with no information whatsoever. Man, this is really, really troublesome.'_

"So," Seirei spoke out to the lazy ninja, "let's see what this shadow possession can do." just then, Seirei's shadow shot out and went towards Shikamaru. His opponent noticed this and lept out of the way of the shadow, but Seirei turned the shadow back at Shikamaru and so began chasing him around the arena.

After a few more jumps the shadow had stopped moving further and so receeded back to its owner's position. Shikamaru stood a pretty good distance from Seirei, and since Seirei no longer had the wind jutsu, he was safe against any long range attacks.

The lazy ninja scanned over his surroundings, he was up against the wall of the arena with the sun in his face. As for Seirei, he was on the opposite side, making sure he kept his distance from Shikamaru. However, Shikamaru noticed something, the shadow of the arena walls was about ten yards away from where the sky ninja stood. He knew that Seirei was too far away to get him in a shadow possession jutsu from either direction, but after a few quick seconds of thinking, Shikamaru had a strategy all set up.

Seirei latched onto his sword with both hands. He knew that he could not go into close combat with Shikamaru without some sort of distraction otherwise he would be caught in his shadow, but he also knew that this fight would have to be won by the shadow possession, nothing else would work against the other genin. And so, after a few quick seconds of thinking, Seirei had a strategy all set up.

Too bad for the other's opponent, they had planned out the fight perfectly. One just didn't see the next step.

Shikamaru ran forward a few steps and stopped to perform his jutsu. He knew he was well in range now and shot out his shadow at Seirei. Seirei saw the shadow and jumped away from the shadow as Shikamaru did before. With each jump, he moved further away from the shadow, but closer to the arena's shadow. Exactly how Shikamaru had planned it.

Just then, the shadow stopped moving forward as it had reached its limit. Seirei stopped jumping and remained where he stood. He saw where he was and he knew; he was cornered. Behind was the arena's shadow, and if he went into it, he would surely be caught, and if he moved forward he would be caught by Shikamaru. He had no where to go. Seeing where he was, he stabbed his sword into the ground behind him knowing that it would be of no use to him to attack Shikamaru. He stood where he was and looked at his opponent with a small grin.

"You've done well. You have me cornered." Seirei said.

Shikamaru smirked, "No, I have you right where I want you." he placed his hands into the rat seal as Seirei knelt down to one knee. Within the second, Shikamaru had lost.

The lazy ninja was narrow eyed. Slowly he stood up with his hands to his sides and legs straight together. Seirei gave his opponent a large smirk as he rose to both his feet.

"Good, you went straight behind me. Just as planned." Seirei walked to Shikamaru, leaving his sword stabbed in the ground, "Since I know that you're really smart, I'll let you think of how this happened. Don't worry you can still talk."

Shikamaru remained standing still looking right at the sword. He then saw that the shadow of the sword, it had no gap. He had put the pieces together.

Seirei allowed himself to be cornered. Placing his sword behind him and out of his hands, he showed to Shikamaru that he could not use the shadow possession jutsu and therefore making the himself completely open. But just in case of a trick, Shikamaru did not use the jutsu at Seirei directly. Instead, he moved his shadow to the side where the arena's shadow was casting. Using the shadow, he was able to travel behind Seirei without wasting distance. But what Shikamaru left out in his strategy was that Seirei wasn't the one performing the jutsus. The sword had the ball, meaning that when Shikamaru had his shadow move by the sword to get to Seirei, his shadow crossed the sword's and did a double possession. Shikamaru could have easily released the jutsu, but since the sword also had the jutsu active, Shikamaru was caught in the jutsu himself. Because of this, he was now open for Seirei to beat the living crap out of him. Shikamaru's plan went according to plan, but Seirei's went one step further.

The black haired ninja reached his lazy opponent after Shikamaru had figured it all out. Shikamaru then said, "This whole thing was too troublesome in the first place."

"You did pretty darn good though man. You had me running there for the moment. What I think you need is a little more motivation."

"That's what your brother told me to do too."

Seirei chuckled a bit, "So, do you want to end this match nicely or with some broken ribs." Shikamaru grinned and shook his head no.

"I forfeit." Seirei nodded at the decision and went back to his sword. Genma entered the field and declared Seirei the winner. Seirei pulled out his sword and released Shikamaru of the shadow possession. Without a word, Shikamaru went back to the fighter's area in the lazy way he always did, Seirei following shortly after.

"Genius fighting Genius." Temari said in an ironic way as she watched Seirei return to the fighter's area.

"Heh. Believe me," Temari turned to look at Musuko leaning against the wall, "Seirei is no genius. No offense to him at all, but he doesn't strategize at all. He just makes the stuff up as he goes along. Sometimes he plans the stuff out. But this, he was just not thinking."

"Then why did he say, '...just as planned.'?" Temari asked.

Seirei responded this time as he walked up the stairs, "Because it made me look smarter." looking to Shikamaru, "In all honesty, I just put my sword back there because I wouldn't be able to use it in the fight and it would only slow me down against your shadow."

Shikamaru, along with Temari, Naruto, Sasuke and Kankuro, all sweat dropped. The genin genius was beaten by a simple act of lightening a load.

"Yo. Uchiha child." Sasuke looked out into the arena to see Chichi standing out in the center next to Genma, "The instructor called out our names. You coming or not?" Sasuke then remembered that his match was next and so walked down the stairs to where he was to meet.

"Fighters, are you ready?" Genma asked.

"Yeah. I want to get this thing over with as soon as possible." the Uchiha said quite confident about himself.

Chichi looked over to where his two teammates were. He saw Seirei raise his hand with two fingers up. Chichi replied with a nod which also signalled Genma.

"Very well, the third match of the finals, begin."

Sasuke ran at Chichi as Chichi did the same thing in return. The two genin met in the center of the arena as Genma moved as fast as he could out of there. Sasuke made the first move and threw a right hook to Chichi's head. Instantly as Sasuke's fist came past his head, Chichi caught it with his left hand while still looking at Sasuke.

"Too slow." was what the sky ninja said as his fist came into Sasuke's chest. Sasuke would have flown back if it weren't for Chichi still holding onto his fist. Said ninja pulled back Sasuke for a kick straight into Sasuke's gut. As the foot connected, Chichi released the fist and sent Sasuke flying a couple of feet. The Uchiha landed on his feet not appearing to be harmed.

Chichi remained where Sasuke was just a moment ago staring at Sasuke, waiting for the Uchiha's next move. Sasuke gave a small huff and went charging back at Chichi for another match in taijutsu. As before, Sasuke threw back his fist for a hook. Chichi simply extended out his hand to catch it, "You people just don't learn." Chichi was about to catch the fist when it vanished.

Sasuke had jumped up into the air and performed a flip. In the middle of his flip, he threw in another punch that Chichi blocked as he did a 360 on the ground. Chichi made his 360 into a 720 when Sasuke landed down on his feet, the sky ninja did a round house kick which connected to Sasuke once again and sent him flying. Chichi lowered his head in disappointment and shook his head slowly, "No one learns here, do they?" the genin then walked to Sasuke as he laid on the ground. Sasuke was not badly hurt and so began raising up to his feet.

_'Such speed. Such reaction. It's like he's not even thinking of his next move.' _Sasuke thought to himself. He was then lifted off the ground by Chichi grabbing onto his collar.

"You think too much." the sky ninja then threw Sasuke up in the air and performed another roundhouse kick into the Uchiha's side.

"Then I'll just fight then." Sasuke retorted as he landed on his feet with a flip at the same time performing hand signs, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" placing his hand to his mouth, Sasuke shot out a large ball of fire directed right at Chichi. Chichi's eyes narrowed at the oncoming fireball and quickly jumped out over the ball. As he dodged the ball, Sasuke came up at him and delivered a kick to his head. But Chichi was too quick, he grabbed onto Sasuke's leg and threw it away, allowing the two of them to land safely on the ground.

As the two landed, Sasuke pulled out a kunai for each hand and threw them one after the other. Chichi reacted by catching the first one, spinning, and throwing it back at the second kunai and stopping it from proceeding. Then Chichi ducked as Sasuke did a roundhouse kick of his own. The sky ninja countered the move with a leg sweep which Sasuke then fell onto his butt. He was open for another attack, but Chichi left him where he stood and awaited to see what he would do next.

Chichi crossed his arms and said to the Uchiha mockingly, "This is what you got. I thought you Uchihas were a high class of ninja. If that is so, show me."

Sasuke, standing back up, "That's because I haven't used my full power. But seeing that you want it so badly, why should I hold it back." right before Chichi, Sasuke disappeared. In the next second, Chichi heard a voice behind him, "This fast enough for you-" Sasuke, with a smirk on his face, was answered with an arm in the side of his head.

"Still too slow." the impact sent Sasuke to the right of Chichi, but the Uchiha remained steady on his feet. Chichi looked into Sasuke's eyes to see the sharigan with only two tomoes in each eye, "Your sharigan will do nothing against me. With it not fully developed, you can't do anything against me in taijutsu, and there is no use trying to copy any of my jutsus, I hardly use any." Chichi then moved into a stance. With his left foot extended pointing at Sasuke as well as his left arm, his right foot and leg bent in towards his body, "But if you feel like trying, go ahead."

Sasuke replied by charging at Chichi head on, when close enough, Sasuke jumped up to do a double leg kick, but Chichi crossed his arms to construct a shield which Sasuke simply jumped off as he made more hand signs, "Katon: Housenka." out from his mouth shot multiple little fireballs aiming right at Chichi. Chichi ran around the arena as not to be hit by the attack.

_'These fire jutsus will become a problem for me. Guess I'll have to use Numeri.' _as he thought that, Sasuke appeared behind Chichi and pulled off one of the kunai on his shoulder strap. Without another thought, Chichi swung around and threw a punch into Sasuke's face followed by a second punch to his right arm which held the kunai. With that punch, Sasuke dropped the weapon and fell to the ground. "No one, touches my whistles."

"Whistles?" Sasuke wiped away some blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, "Don't you mean kunai?"

"Allow me to show you." he put away the kunai Sasuke had took, and took out two other ones. Putting the handles at the right corner of his mouth both pointing to the right like a flute, he blew into them to make a pitch from the kunai.

"Heh heh. This will be fun." Musuko said as he heard the whistle.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked his sensei.

"Let's just say, Chichi has a way with wildlife. You'll see in a few minutes, Naruto."

* * *

"Sasuke is in trouble now." Hinata said to herself.

"What do you mean by that?" Sakura questioned the Hyuuga.

Hinata giggled abit, "You'll see."

* * *

Putting away the kunai, Chichi resumed the fight. This time he took charge at Sasuke, and this time Sasuke activated his sharigan. Chichi threw in a punch which Sasuke blocked with his arm and then returned it with another one of his punches. The sky ninja simply caught the fist, but was not able to counter the attack as Sasuke turned his back to Chichi, and grabbed Chichi's hand with his free one. The sky ninja could not get free of the Uchiha's grip as he was thrown over Sasuke's head and into the wall. Chichi managed to do a split second flip so that his feet landed on the wall and gave him the perfect springboard to launch back at Sasuke. He threw a punch in mid-air at Sasuke's face, but the Uchiha ducked at the last moment, and as Chichi flew over him, he flew his fist up into Chichi's gut and shot him up into the air.

"What?" Musuko was leaning on the railing in shock, while Seirei looked stunned from where he was standing.

"What? What's going on?" Naruto asked somewhat confused.

"Brother Chichi got hit." answered Musuko.

"Is that a such a bad thing?" Temari retorted.

"He's never been hit in taijutsu. Even in the academy against the teachers." Seirei said calmly, yet nervously at the same time.

"But aren't teachers usually chunin level or higher. He wouldn't have even been a genin by then." said Naruto.

"Exactly." everyone almost gasped at what Seirei said. They all looked back down to see Chichi had landed on his feet and was back in a stare down with Sasuke.

Sasuke had a devious smirk on his face as he looked at Chichi who looked almost puzzled by what had happened. His sharingan was still active as he waited for his opponent to attack. However, his waiting stance was changed when he saw Chichi smirking as well. Sasuke got into a ready stance and asked, "What's so funny?"

"Heh." Chichi replied, "Tell me Sasuke. Do you like animals?" Sasuke was silent, not understanding the question, "Cause I think you might like this one. Oh, and you should probably chech around your shoes." Sasuke looked down at his shoes to see a dark blue liquid, as thick as blood. The liquid was moving past him towards Chichi, meaning that the source was behind him. What really got him nervous was when he looked at everyone up in the stands and the fighters waiting area. They all were pale as ghosts. Knowing that something was behind him, he turned and faced what it was. And like everyone else, he also turned a bit pale.

It was a blob. A big blue blob with multiple tentacles, and feet. Two tentacles on each side could be seen as a use as arms. One tentacle, being larger than the others, extended from the top of the blob to look like a neck of some sorts, only it was in the shape of a tube. From this tentacle was where the dark blue liquid was coming from. Sasuke stepped backwards as he looked up at the blob.

"Wha-what is that." Sasuke was wide eyed. Meanwhile, Chichi stood in a relaxed manner and answered the question, "That, is Numeri, the vicious liquid. A very deadly creature, but can be the most loyal of all animals. That is, if you can tame it."

"He summoned Numeri. He's done for." Seirei smirked at the sight of the blue blob.

"Wait. Summoned? When did he do that. Let alone, how can he do that." Kankuro questioned, "Summoning jutsus take alot of skill to do, also they need hand signs. I have not seen him do a single sign."

"Brother Chichi doesn't summon like every other ninja does." Seirei responded, "In fact, he doesn't even have a contract which you need to summon." a confused look went onto the genin's faces again.

"Then...how did this...this thing, get there." Naruto asked.

"Like I said before." Musuko said, "Chichi has a way with wildlife. Remember those kunai he blew into?" Naruto nodded, "Those kunai, they are used as animal whistles, not weapons. By playing them by the type of kunai, the number of kunai, and where he places it in his mouth, Chichi is able to make any sort of call to summon animals that already live on this planet. It just take awhile to get them to come here." Naruto looked back at Chichi, who was standing still smiling at Sasuke taking steps back.

_'Woah. Something like that actually lives here?'_ Naruto thought, he looked back at Chihi, _'Just what are these three really capable of?'_

The fight then continued with Numeri raising one of its tentacles. It shot out at Sasuke as he ducked down before it reached him. The main tube tentacle looked down at Sasuke as he ducked, which then lead to the remaining tentacles going for the Uchiha. Sasuke dodged each and every one of the tentacles as it went by, but that didn't stop them from turning around and striking again. Several more run bys with the tentacles and Sasuke was completely surrounded by the tentacles. With a small twitch, the tentacles constricted around Sasuke's body and were about to ensnare him. Sasuke did a final sequence of hand signs and shot out a burst of fire out of his mouth. The flames made the tentacles burst into pieces and the Uchiha was free from the blob's grasp. Bits and parts were strewed all around Sasuke, and he saw the blue blob's main tentacle writhe around like it was in pain, it made no sound though to confirm it. Just then, the writhing stopped and the main tentacle bent back down towards Sasuke. It did a small flinch, and when it did, Sasuke could see the blue liquid that he had just destroyed with his fire jutsu flow back into the feet of the blob and grew four new tentacles.

"Fire jutsus will do you nothing against Numeri, Sasuke." said ninja turned to see Chichi still where he was, "It's not called the vicious liquid for nothing."

Sasuke turned back at the blob only to be returned with its main tentacle pointing right at him and the tentacles going right at him as well. Sasuke jumped to the side and dodged passed two of the tentacles, as he jumped, the main tentacle pointed at him once again.

_'Why does it keep moving and looking at me. It has no eyes. Unless...yes.'_ the other two tentacles came at him and he ducked and laid flat on the ground remaining completely motionless. The tentacles receeded to Numeri as the main tentacle removed its false gaze on Sasuke and began wriggling around, _'That's it. It can only see things that move. If it remains still, it thinks it is dead or apart of the terrain. But if it moves, it will attack until it doesn't move anymore. So for right now, I'm safe, but I can't do anything if I don't move.'_

"Very good." Chichi clapped slowly for the Uchiha, "You figured out how Numeris hunt." the sky ninja began walking towards Sasuke still lying on the ground. Numeri's main tentacle pointed at Chichi and instantly shot its tentacles at him. Sasuke became confused for a moment, he had thought the blob was on Chichi's side. But his confusion was thrown away when the tentacles stopped just a foot away from the shinobi and receeded back to itself, and the main tentacle continued to wriggle around. "Amazing creature is it not. It really can't tell between friend or foe. It just hunts. But I'm different from friend, or foe. You see Sasuke, I never knew my parents." Chichi took a few more steps towards his opponent, "I was a newborn baby, lost in the center of a rainforest. Now I know what you're thinking right now, 'How on earth could a newborn survive in the wild?', well I'll tell you. I was raised by a species of animal not well known by most people. It was the size of a rhino, as clever as a fox, fast as a snake, skin harder than a turtle's shell, but still as smooth a seal's stomach, it had the killing instinct and hunting skills of a tiger, and best of all, it had the motherly passion of any known female who had just seen a newborn. It took me in, taught me how to hunt, how to fight within the pack that we lived in. In time, ninjas came to our pack, we were going to have them for lunch, but they defended themselves with weapons and fighting skills of their own. It was then, I found our that I could use the same skills as they could, and with those skills along with my teachings from my mother, I became the alpha male of the pack, and with that position, I gained the respect of every animal that I encountered. I learned their abilities and understood their calls, and with those calls, I bring them into battle to aid me. It doesn't matter if they cannot see me or just hunt everything in their path, they know what I am, and they lower themselves to me. In return, I show them what an alpha male should be; like a good king." Chichi was now standing right next to Sasuke, "That is why Numeri doesn't attack me, nor will a bear, a snake, or even one of those summons that ninjas use. Because it is the animal's nature to sense what something is truly capable of." he knelt down and whispered into Sasuke's ear, "They do not fear you, but they fear me." and with that, Chichi grabbed Sasuke by the back of his collar and lifted him up. Sasuke made sure he could be as lifeless as possible as to not let the Numeri react, "Now Sasuke, it's your choice. Either I punch you in the face and you lose consciousness, or you move to attack and Numeri gets an afternoon snack."

Sasuke responded, trying not to move his lips as much as he could, "I will never lose to the likes of an animal like you."

Chichi lowered and shook his head, "Musuko was right. You are self centered." he walked away from Numeri with Sasuke still in hand, when he believed he was far enought distance, Chichi pulled back his arm and slammed Sasuke right square in the face. The Uchiha flew across the arena...and poofed into a log.

Chichi's eyes widened as he saw up behind Numeri was the real Sasuke standing on the side of the wall a good twenty feet up. His sharigan was activated once again (he deactivated it when he lyed down on the ground) and he performed three hand signs.

"He's going to use it." Kakashi said to himself as he stood guard around the stands, "He's going to use the Chidori."

Sasuke placed his hand out in front of him, lightning began sparking about and the sound of birds chirping was heard throughout the arena.

"Time to show you my true power." without another word from either of the two, Sasuke ran down the wall at incredible speeds with the lightning hand dragging along behind him destroying everything in his path. He came off the wall and onto the ground, and he was heading right at the back of Numeri. Chichi could do nothing but watch as it all happened so fast, "Here's what I think of you and your alpha male crap!" Sasuke then lunged his electrocuted hand into the back of the blue blob. All the tentacles and feet of the blob began flailing upwards as it was struck with the Chidori. Its belly bulged out, and finally, Numeri exploded into pieces.

The Uchiha stood with a smirk on his face as the pieces of the blob landed on the ground around him and Chichi. All that the sky ninja did was look Sasuke dead in the eye, with anger in them.

"Heh, what do you think now? Do you think I was too slow there? Do you think that I'm still a self-centered little jerk? Do you still think that I think too much? Well take a look." his stretched out his arms to display his results, "Your creature is dead. But don't worry, you'll see it soon again. I've got one more of those just for you." Sasuke, with a larger smirk now, walked towards Chichi slowly. In front of him, he saw a piece of the blob he had just destroyed, and to get his opponent even more angry, Sasuke decided to step on the blue puddle.

Big mistake.

When Sasuke stepped on the puddle, a shock came up his leg and into his body. The shock was so intense that he fell down to the ground. His arm landed on another puddle nearby and that too got shocked.

_'What's going on? I can't move.'_ Sasuke laid on the ground as Chichi came walking towards him, this time with a smirk on his face.

"Idiot. You didn't kill Numeri. The impact simply made it explode. Numeris live in Kumo, they practically thrive on the electric jutsus the ninjas use there. You simply gave him the ability to stun you." as Chichi finished his statement, the blur liquid flowed into one spot and rejoined to create the Numeri once again. Sasuke couldn't be seen by the blob, but he could be seen by Chichi, who lifted him up by the front of his collar now, "Did I tell you I'm a major animal lover, and that anyone who tries to kill an animal at all, I'll beat the living crap out of them?"

"No." Sasuke said barely, "You left that part out in your stupid speech."

"Good to know." Chichi then smashed his fist into Sasuke's face and sending him across the arena completely knocked out. He didn't puff into a log this time. "I win." Chichi walked back up to the fighter's area and watched as Sasuke was taken off the floor by medics.

Spectators looked at the sight in shock. Most of them had their money on Sasuke winning as he was the top in his class, but this Chichi fellow, he blew their bets right out of the water. To the spectators it was a battle worth watching and they all cheered on for Chichi in good sportsmanship. However, the shinobi did not just see this as a sport, but a display of skill. For Sasuke was beaten with not one ounce of chakra used by Chichi while Sasuke almost depleted his own with those fire jutsus and Chidori.

"It is very interesting how these...'Sky ninja' fight. Don't you think so as well Hokage?" the Kazekage spoke to said person who was seated by him during the finals.

The Hokage replied, "Yes...they show remarkable strength. They show the makings of true ninjas." after a pause, the Hokage asked, "Do you happen to know where this Sky Village may be located, Kazekage?"

Kazekage replied with a sigh, "Sadly no. I know as much about these shinobi and their village as you do. My apologies."

Just then the crowd began to cheer even louder than before. "What are they cheering about?" asked the Hokage.

"Isn't it obvious Hokage?" said the Kazekage, "The people are excited to see the next match. The people have seen what two of the Sky Ninja can do, now it is their third team mate that is up. Then there is our prize shinobi, Gaara. Everyone here knows; this will turn out to be a very interesting match." the Kazekage eyed closely as Genma arrived back on the arena floor to introduce the two new fighters.

Gaara walked down the stairs side by side with Musuko, both not saying a word to the other or looking at one another. All that could be heard was the cheering of the crowd.

_'This isn't good.'_ Sakura thought to herself as she watched the two walk on, _'Musuko is going up against Gaara. I remember what happened to Lee when he fought that sand freak, and it wasn't pretty. Lee is still recovering, possibly not to even be a ninja again. Musuko made one mistake against Kiba, and that didn't hurt him badly. But one mistake against this guy...and there maybe no more mistakes ever.'_ Sakura was on the breach of sweating as she thought as to what might happen to this ninja who had come into her life.

Back with Gaara and Musuko, Genma asked if the two were ready. Musuko nodded as Gaara only looked at Genma, the kind of look that says, 'I will devour your soul.'

Genma raised his hand to silence the cheering from the crowd, "The fourth match, begin." lowering his hand, he jumped back to safer area.

Gaara started the fight by sending sand out of his gourd and sending it at Musuko without even a moments though. It seemed that all Gaara wanted to do was finish him off quickly. Musuko on the other hand had different plan, he went on the defensive and began dodging the sand attacks as they neared him, moving back towards the wall each time. He was trying to get into the wooded area of the arena, hoping that could help him out, even though there was little wood to begin with. Musuko managed to reach the wall and began hiding behind trees, but Gaara just cut them in half with his sand and continued with the rampage.

"Crap, well there's one plan gone. Time to use..." Musuko saw from the corner of his eye a section of sand coming at his side, "Oh crap." the sand hit him head on and did not stop until it rammed the sky ninja into the wall. The flow of sand continued and pushed Musuko further into the wall making a full imprint of his body on the wall. While all of this was going, Gaara did not move a muscle as he heard Musuko shout out from the pain.

"You will not live." Gaara said in a scary, death sentence-like voice. But his eyes opened up as he turned his head to see Musuko against the wall, the only thing was; Musuko wasn't there. In the shinobi's place was smoke and remnants of sand around the imprint. "A shadow clone? Then where is-" Gaara was cut off by a voice behind him.

"Aww. That hit the spot." the sand ninja turned around to see Musuko step out from behind one of the cut down trees and...zip his pants, "Sorry about that man. I didn't go before the finals." Musuko scratched the back of his head in embarrasment.

Gaara did not reply, he just bared his teeth and sent more sand than before at Musuko. He was not a happy camper at all.

"Now for some fun." Musuko crouched down and prepared to jump. When the sand came close, the sky ninja jumped clear of it all, but that didn't stop the sand from still going after him like it did before.

Musuko knew the situation as it was. Gaara was able to control the sand from within his gourd. The defense around him was instant if one could not hit him fast enough as Lee was able to. He knew he wasn't that fast, nor were his senbons, so an actual attack was completely worthless. Somehow, he had to find a way to get by the sand. Luckily for him, he had some plans that he had made before the fight that should bring down Gaara, hopefully.

Gaara on the other hand did all that he knew what to do, and that was to kill his opponent no matter what. Gaara did not even have to look at Musuko to attack as the sand knew where to strike all by itself. He didn't need multiple plans, he had the defense, the offense, and his opponent running like a little rabbit. There was no way he could be defeated, but he did need to finish this, before the plan was to take place.

The two continued playing cat and mouse for what seemed an hour, but in actuallity was only a minute or two. Just then, the sand stopped going after Musuko and receeded back to around Gaara. Seeing that the sand had stopped, the sky ninja knelt to a knee to catch a breather. Gaara stood there, watching Musuko lower his head and heave in air into his lungs, the shinobi would not last much longer.

"It's finished." Gaara simply said, and sent one tentacle of sand at Musuko.

Musuko stayed where he was with his head still down, but what caught Gaara was that Musuko stopped breathing heavily. The sky ninja's head rose with a smile and he rolled to the side to dodge the sand. He landed back on one knee and pointed his left gauntlet at Gaara. He shot out of the device three senbon needles. Gaara ignored them as his sand shield rose up infront of the needles. Gaara sent forth another wave of sand attacks at his opponent, but something caught the corner of his eye. It was his sand shield, it had collapsed, and with two needles still coming at him. The sand ninja only had enough time to side step one of the senbons, but the other plunged into his right arm. Gaara grabbed his arm and flinched away in pain. The sand that was going after Musuko turned around and surrounded its master in protection.

"How? How did my sand fail?" Gaara questioned himself, he then looked at Musuko in anger, "What did you do?!"

The sky ninja stood up from where he was and put his hands up in defense, then replied, "A magician never reveals his secrets." a grin crawled up onto his face.

"A magician?" Temari repeated, "What does he mean by that?"

"He likes magic tricks." Seirei responded as he stood next to the wind mistress, "Ever since he was a little kid, he loved it all, and he has incorporated it into his techniques. Isn't that right, Naruto." the black haired ninja smiled at Naruto.

"Heh. I still don't know how he does some of his stuff." Naruto did his foxy grin as they all looked back down at Gaara and Musuko.

"What do you mean by, 'magician'?" Gaara asked still holding his arm.

Musuko smiled and began walking in a circle around the sand ninja, "You see Gaara, I love magic tricks. They baffle the mind, they defy the laws of physics, and the people always enjoy them. And the best part is: when they ask you so many times, 'How on earth did you do it?', I just respond the same way, I don't reveal my secrets." Gaara saw that Musuko to his right now, and so turned towards him and prepared his sand shield, "Heh heh. Don't worry, a magician doesn't do the same trick twice. Otherwise it gets really boring. But you have to remember this about magic." Gaara lowered his guard, as he knew this was going to be a long monologue.

What Gaara was going to do was wait for the right moment to attack Musuko, when he least expected it, and it would all be over. He just had to wait.

"Now, every great magic trick consists of three acts. No more, no less. The first act is called, The Pledge: the magician shows you something ordinary, a deck of cards, or a bird, or a man. He shows you this object, and pledges to you its utter normality." Musuko continued to walk around Gaara which the sand ninja returned by always facing him, "Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see that it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course, it probably isn't." Musuko continues, "The second act is called, The Turn: the magician makes his ordinary something, do something extraordinary. Now...now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it. Because of course, you're not really looking, you don't really want to know, you want to be fooled." for some unknown reason, the aura around the arena seemed to get darker, but Musuko went on, "But that isn't enough." Musuko stopped speaking. The reason for this was that sand came from the ground and wrapped around the ninja before he could say more.

Gaara's left hand was open and facing Musuko as he was enveloped in the sand. Gaara wasn't just sitting around and listening to Musuko's annoying story, he had a plan. He continued to turn towards Musuko as he did not want the genin to see that he was sending sand into the ground. Gaara had sand waiting right underneath Musuko's feet and waited to pounce when the time was right. The time was right.

Musuko's face was still visible to everyone while the rest of him was covered in the sand. Gaara spoke, "Now you die." sand then covered up the sky ninja's face, covering him completely, "Sabaku Soso! (Sand Burial)" the sand compressed down. No noise was heard from the clump of sand, but that was normal, no one ever felt the pain.

The sand ninja turned to look at Genma, signalling to announce the winner. Genma nodded, but then remembered the note Musuko gave him. He pulled it out and read it aloud.

"Making something disappear isn't enough.That's why there is a third act called, The Prestige: where you bring that something back." Genma had a confused look on his face. Why would someone write down what they would have already said? If Gaara didn't attack him, he would have finished it.

Gaara's eyes went wide open.

Everyone saw what happened, Gaara gave a gasp, his legs began to tremble until finally, he fell to his knees.

"H-h-how?" Gaara said softly just before he fell forward onto the ground. His eyes still open.

No one at all knew what happened, until they saw the mound of sand that Musuko was in. The mound fell to the ground, and had contained nothing inside of it.

What had happened to Gaara? What had happened to Musko? More importantly,

"What the heck is going on?!" Sakura shouted out, as well as some other people after her. People in the crowd were shouting while others were whispering to each other as to what they thought had happened. But all the would come to an end. As they looked down at Gaara, they saw something move, his gourd.

The gourd began moving back and forth on Gaara's back, then it stopped. Silence took the crowd once again, except for Naruto.

"No...it can't be." Naruto leaned over the railing.

"Oh," Chichi said with his hand on the blonde's shoulder, "but it is."

Just then, the sound of the gourd breaking was heard, and out of the gourd, came a fist. Bit by bit, the gourd was broken away to reveal Musuko climbing out of it, without a single scratch on him.

"I told you he likes magic tricks." Seirei folded his arms in approval.

Musuko was standing next to Gaara as he brushed off some sand on his clothes. Genma, as well as most everyone in the arena, were awe struck by Musuko coming out of the gourd. The sky ninja then looked at Genma politely, which then Genma agreed.

"The winner is, Musuko!" said ninja gave a bow as the crowd cheered on for the sky ninja's victory. After that, he went back to where he was supposed to.

"Ah man," Kankuro said looking at his brother, "This isn't good. We need him for the operation, Temari."

"I know. We gotta stop this thing now."

"But we have to wait for the signal." the two sand siblings looked up to where the Kazekage was sitting.

The Kazekage was sitting where he was, just looking at Gaara lying on the ground. Then he looked at Musuko, this ninja came out of nowhere and with his team, and took the Chunin Exam for themselves. There was no way that these three were merely genin.

"Hokage," said person looked over to the Kazekage, "Do you believe that these sky ninja are really genin?"

"I should ask the same about Gaara. He has the ability to manipulate sand at his own free will as I can see. He could easily take out most Chunins. You know as well as I do that there are Genins who are at the age of eighteen and still have not shown the ability to become Chunin." looking down at the three sky ninja, Sarutobi continued, "These three have proven that they are definetly Chunin material. They fully deserve the rank." the two kages looked back down at the other ninja. The Kazekage was looking more at Temari and Kankuro, with a small flick of his hand, the two genin nodded.

Temari and Kankuro jumped out onto the arena floor as medics came to fetch Gaara. Temari landed in the medics path while Kankuro went to Gaara's side and pulled him up onto his shoulder.

"What are you two doing?" asked one of the medics, "He needs medical attention."

Temari responded by pulling her fan off her back, "You're the ones that'll be needing medical attention." and with that she swung her fan and sent the medics into the walls.

Everything after happened almost all at once.

Several more people lept up into the air surrounding the arena. All had cloaks on so they were not detected. When they revealed themselves, they were shown to be sound ninja. A loud crash could be heard in the distance. By just looking at it, it would only be a tower of dust rising into the air, but in reality it was a massive snake that had broken through the walls of Konoha. The sound ninja around the arena all then placed their hands into identical signs and had casted a genjutsu onto the spectators, putting them into a deep sleep. The only ones unaffected by this were the Jounin and Chunin ninjas along with a very few amount of genin, those being the finalists of the exams, Sakura, and Hinata. Just after everyone fell to the jutsu, the group of shinobi around the arena doubled in numbers as another group came. They were seen to be sand ninja.

* * *

The Hokage saw this all and stood up to aid his fellow ninja in battle, however his attendee had been struck by an unknown kunai and sent to the ground not able to fight. As he was sliding dowwn to the ground, Sarutobi was unknowingly taken hold of from behind. Looking behind him, he had seen,

"Kazekage. What is the meaning of this?"

The Kazekage replied in a cold voice, "Konoha was stood tall for too long. Now, you shall see it fall to rubble right infront of you." as he said this, four other ninja leapt onto the roof above them and stood on each corner.

One was a boy who had eaten one too many dangos, one was a lengthy boy with not two but six arms, another boy had a pale look to him and another pale look coming out of the back of him, and there was one girl who looked like she could just screw over a bear any moment.

The Kazekage, with Hokage in hand, leapt up to the center of the roof. He was then followed by four anbu agents in cloaks, but they didn't make it in time, as the four sound ninja on the roof activated a jutsu that surrounded them as well as the Kazekage and Hokage in a purple barrier. One agent tried to break through it, but was met with failure as he was set in flames as he made contact. The anbu agents knew they couldn't do anything to break in, the Hokage was on his own.

* * *

Down with the finalists, they had all exited out of the waiting area and were faced to face with the sand siblings who have been accompanied with other sand ninja now. The sand ninja were standing in between the two genin groups.

"Madame Temari, you and Kankuro take Gaara out of here and treat him. We will hold them off as much as possible." one of the sand ninja said. Temari nodded and the three of them left the arena and into the forest. The sand ninja redirecting his attention to the genin with a smile, "So...who wants to die first?"

The genin were all in battle position. That is, execpt for Chichi, Musuko, and Seirei, they were just shaking their heads and smiling.

Finally, Chichi spoke, "Once again, no one learns. Did anyone see me send Numeri away? Anyone?" Chichi asked a blank audience as the blue blob formed behind the group of sand ninja without their noticing. Numeri then entangled them in his tentacles, slowly dragging them into his gooish belly where they remained slighty visible, "Brother Musuko?" Chichi extended his hand towards Numeri in a gentlemens way.

"I'd be delighted to." Musuko pulled out one of his senbon needles from his gauntlet. With a snap of his fingers, the needle began dancing with lightning around it. Musuko then threw the needle into Numeri, which then sent an intense shockwave throughout the creature as well as into the sand ninja within it. And as before, Numeri scattered across the arena and left the genin with a bunch of unconscious sand ninja.

Now that that threat was dealt with, the genin grouped up.

Musuko started, "Well. It seems Konoha has a little invasion on its hands. Pay up Seirei."

"Later."

"Wait. You knew about this?" Naruto shouted out at his sensei, "And you didn't even tell me?"

"I had a feeling that the Sand and Sound were in on something. But Seirei shoved it away. So he owes me for the bet."

"What bet?" the confused Shikamaru asked.

"Nothing important now." Seirei interjected, "Right we need to deal with Gaara and the others with him."

"Why?" Ino asked, "There are thousands of other ninja at the walls of the village. Why not go there?"

"Because they have enough people there. And beside that...Gaara is their secret weapon." Seirei answered the kunoichi, "Am I right Musuko?" the white haired ninja nodded.

"But he's immobile as of now. We don't need to worry about him." Ino blurted out again.

"That's where you're wrong, Ino." Chichi responded, "Gaara is healing himself as we speak. If we don't hurry, he'll soon return to his normal self."

Ino was about to ask another question when Shikamaru closed her mouth to shut her up, "Please. You're questions are so troublesome." lowering his hand, Ino remained silent, "These guys seem to know what's going on. We have no other choice but to listen. So do the same." Ino slightly nodded.

"Ok." Musuko started off, "The three of them went off into the woods, probably to get plenty of cover. We need to split up into groups of two. Naruto, I need you to come with me to go after Gaara. Shikamaru and Ino, you two are to stop anyone coming behind us to stop us from reaching our goal. Chichi and Seirei," a pause for a moment, "have fun." the two sky ninja smiled and then vanished into thin air. The rest of the group followed behind Musuko and Naruto to find Gaara.

* * *

Up in the stands, Hinata and Sakura been looking on at the fight that had been going on with the jounin teachers and the invading shinobi. Not one hit had been touched on either of them, a reason why they were ranked as jounin. A few times, some ninja appeared next to them to get an easy kill. Sakura had frozen in fear everytime, but Hinata had dealt each one a fatal blow with her Jyuuken and Byakugan.

After awhile, Kakashi had appeared in front of them deflecting attacks from enemy ninjas.

"You two alright?" the jounin said not looking at them. Both girls nodded, "You need to get out of here," deflected a blow, "and find Gaara. They wouldn't have done the invasion at that moment unless he was an important part of it." blocked an attack and killed his attacker, "Find him, and stop him. This'll be an A-rank mission, find whoever else you can to join you." once more another block, "Go, now!" he jumped away to fight off in a different location.

The two kunoichi looked at each other in shock, they had just recieved an A-rank mission. Hinata had never had one of those before. Sakura did, but that was in the Wave mission and was first believed to be C-ranked. These two had been totally taken off guard. So off guard, that a sand ninja came up behind and was about to slash Sakura in the back. Just then, Hinata's diamond tear glowed brightly and THUD!, the ninja fell down onto the ground knocked out. The two looked behind them to see none other than Chichi.

"You two alright?" the two girls nodded, "Good. Hinata, I thought I tought you better than to let your guard down." Chichi quirked an eyebrow.

"Sorry, Chichi." Hinata blushed, "It's just that...I got an A-rank mission."

"Oh." the sky ninja remained still as a sound ninja this time came up behind him for a kill. But Chichi elbowed him the gut while still standing still, and when the ninja bent over in pain, Chichi elbowed him in the back of the head to knock him out onto the ground, "Well, anyways. I came to ask you if you wanted to help me with something. I wanted you and I to go after Gaara. But since you already have a mission.."

"No." Hinata interrupted, "That's actually alright, that was the mission anyways."

"Nice. Well come on now. We got to catch up with the others."

"Others?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, the genins down below didn't get effected by the genjutsu, so we've gathered up to go after Gaara." Chichi and Hinata were about to set off, when Chichi stopped and turned, "You're coming right?" he asked Sakura. She nodded, and the three of them jumped into the woods to go after the sand siblings.

* * *

With Temari and Kankuro, the two were well ahead of the persuing group, but for some reason, Temari had stopped dead on a tree. Kankuro noticed this a second later and stopped further away. Slowly turning around as he still had a wounded Gaara in his arm, he asked, "Why'd you stop sis?"

The kunoichi turned her head around to look at the path they had just taken and responded, "Trouble." Kankuro almost gasped, "You go on ahead. We need Gaara for this to be a success." the puppeteer nodded and left his sister behind.

Temari stood on the tree branch as she stood right where she was. Still facing the way they came, she said, "You can come out now. He's gone." just like that, Seirei fell from the treetops and right next to Temari where she couldn't see, "I'm glad you don't keep a lady waiting."

* * *

Back with the group consisting of the four genin, they had gone through the forest without a single bump in with the enemy.

However, that was all about to end soon.

"We should be getting close." Musuko replied leaping through the trees, "I can sense my chakra is near."

"Dare I ask as to why Gaara has your chakra?" Ino questioned.

"The senbon needle that I shot into his arm had a small portion of my chakra. It should still be there for how long he had the needle in him." the genin took the story and continued on into the forest.

"Where do you think you kids are going?" the group was stopped by several sound ninja appearing infront of them, "We're not allowed to let you by. Otherwise the invasion will be a failure. So how bout you kiddies just surrender and nothing bad will happen to ya." the ninja in middle spoke, indicating he was the leader.

"We would gladly surrender to you." Musuko said which caught the other genin off guard, "But you'd have to answer to the guy to your left." Musuko pointed over to his right. The sound ninja all looked over there to see, nothing. Looking back, Naruto and Musuko had vanished, "They're all yours guys. Have fun!" Musuko shouted to Ino and Shikamaru as he and Naruto ran towards their target.

Ino nodded and Shikamaru just shrugged it off, considering it troublesome.

* * *

Musuko and Naruto, now without the two behind them, picked up the pace thanks to the Taifuu Kasoku. The sky ninja could sense the chakra getting closer with each step.

After a few more tree leaps, Kankuro was in their sights. Gaara was still in a wounded position with his arm around his brother, giving Naruto and Musuko the advantage.

"I'll go in first Naruto." Musuko said silently as not to be detected, "You come in as back up." the blonde nodded and watched his sensei run up ahead to attack.

Kankuro was in mid-air jumping to another tree, when he was kicked in the back of his head. The puppeteer did a full flip, but also lost his grip on Gaara. Gaara was still weak and fell down to the ground three stories down. Musuko saw this and went down to see if he was alright. Upon arrival, Musuko turned Gaara's lifeless body over to see he was only damaged in the face. Where pieces of it were breaking off and revealing one of Kankuro's puppets instead. The puppet then shot out a kunai at Musuko, but he just managed to evade it. He jumped away to keep his distance from the puppet.

"Heh. Like my brother?" Kankuro asked standing on a higher tree branch, "He can be very vicious if you try to help him up. If you know what I mean." with a flick of his wrist, Kankuro's puppet went flying after Musuko. However, it was kicked away by not Naruto, but Chichi.

"Thanks bro."

"No problem. You guys going after Gaara?" Musuko answered with a nod, "We'll deal with this guy then."

"We?" Naruto asked popping from the trees. As he finished, Sakura and Hinata jumped down next to Chichi.

"We." Chichi retorted. Musuko and Naruto then nodded and left to go after Gaara. Who seems to not be so weak if he can ran by himself. Chichi placed his gaze on Kankuro, "You're opponent is us now."

Kankuro did a scan of the three genin, "Two girls and a wild child. I think I can handle that." he pulled the white straps on his back off to reveal a second puppet, this one having red horns and a head resembling a horses.

* * *

Gaara was standing by himself in an area where it was partially covered by trees. Leaning against one of the trees, Gaara was catching his breathe, while at the same time thinking of his battle.

_'How did he get into the gourd? How did he get pass my shield? How did he survive the sand burial? He should be dead, but he isn't! He must die, or else I will never be truly alive.'_ the thoughts ended as he sensed another pressence, that not being Kankuro's or Temari's. Turning around, he saw the two last people he wanted to see; Musuko and Naruto.

"Gaara," Musuko said to the sand ninja, "you are injured. The fight is over, ok. Your invasion, it will become a failure. Just give up and no one else will be harmed."

Slowly, Gaara stood up from the tree and faced the two shinobi. He began to smile, his smile then turned into a synical grin as he started laughing sinisterly, "It doesn't matter anymore." sand was now coming out of his gourd and moving around onto his body, "As long as the blood of you two is stained in my sand, I will consider it a victory." his left arm, chest and the half of his face was covered in the sand now, and slowly, it was forming his figure into something else.

Black streaks could be seen along the sand now to look like fur patterns, his eye turned black with a golden center. His mouth grew larger and began drooling like some sort of wild animal.

Gaara had turned into a monster, "Your blood is mine!"

* * *

**Everyone has been left off with a battle that will be hard to beat. Can they make it in time to actually confirm a victory for Konoha? Or will it become a victory for Suna and Oto? Over 16,000 words, dang I never thought it would be this long, but it's still good for me. It means that you guys will get pulled further into the story. Next chapter will consist of the fights, so be patient for it. And remember, reviews are like cake. The more I have, the faster I move and the better it tastes! Please review and hope to see you all next time.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Prestige. I just always wanted to put that part of the movie into a fight. And so I did.**

**With that all said, I'm out like the second half of about.**


	11. Invasion

Hello hello to Eleven of **Sky Ninja**!

This entire story is now being supported by Ferousha the Panda Chick, my official Beta-Reader. And without her, I think I would be so screwed over. She has seen so many of my writing errors, and if she was next to me, I would bow down and kiss her feet for what she has done. She hasn't finished with all the chapters yet, but if anyone is trying to get a Beta-Reader, she is taken. Panda Chick is mine, ok?

Well I gotta say, I am really disappointed, mostly in myself. Honestly enough, with over 75,000 words already made and only five reviews. FIVE! And what makes that even sadder is when the majority of those reviews have come from Ferousha, the Beta-Reader. So I plead to you all, please review, it makes me feel a whole lot better about myself, even give me suggestions as to how the story could be improved or future ideas for the story. All I really want is some replies from my readers. Don't think I don't have any readers, I read my traffic.

To those who have reviewed, which is only two people, thanks, it is greatly appreciated.

Also, if no one has noticed, I had placed a poll up in my account for about four whole months, and not one vote had come in. It was to find out whether Seirei should get a girl himself or remain single. Since no one voted, I have decided on the outcome and had deleted the poll. But just to be sure, I didn't make some stupid mistake, I want you guys to tell me if you had ever seen a poll about this in my account. If you didn't then I apologize.

Anyways, to continue with the story, this will actually jump in and out of various fights, so be sure to keep track of everything.

* * *

Ino and Shikamaru had been left with the duty of dealing with about eight sound ninja, as the others left to go after Gaara and the other Sand Siblings. Each of the sound ninja were easily of chunin level from the looks of it, so the two leaf ninja were at a significant disadvantage.

"So, Shikamaru, got any ideas?" Ino asked, with worried smile.

Said ninja replied, with a smile of his own, "Give me some time." Shikamaru knelt down and went into his thinking stance. Ino gave a slight nod and jumped up above the enemy ninja.

All the ninja looked up at her, still with her smile on her face, and watched as she performed some handsigns. One of the shinobi noticed what she was doing and threw a shuriken at her. It made an impact into Ino's stomach and she poofed into a log. Obviously, the blonde performed a kawari jutsu. Looking around, they spotted Ino leaping from some bushes behind them. Without hesitation, two of the shinobi threw their shuriken at the kunoichi. Once again, she puffed away into a log, kawari. They then spotted her coming from out of a tree to their left. Ino landed on the ground and threw a kunai, striking one of the sound ninja in the shoulder. In retalition, four kunai and shuriken were thrown into her body, and she puffed into a log again. Now she had popped out from behind a tree to the group's right.

Ino readied herself, shouting to her teammate, "I could use some help here, Shikamaru."

Said ninja had just got out of his thinking stance, and said with a worried voice, "Sorry, you're on your own." Ino turned sharply towards her pineapple partner with an astonished look. What she saw was Shikamaru running into the woods, away from Konoha. She had been left alone with eight shinobi, no genin could handle this.

"Shikamaru! Get back here!" Ino screams fell upon deaf ears, as Shikamaru did not return.

* * *

"So," Temari said, still facing away from Seirei, "You gonna try and stop us?" Silence fell between the two.

Seirei then responded, "No." Temari turned with a somewhat shocked look on her face, "I am going to stop you."

Temari's expression turned to stone as she stepped back from the black-haired ninja. "Then as of now," She grasped the fan on her back, "You are my enemy." Temari pulled out the black metal bar from behind her and swung it across herself. As the closed fan went by, it collided with Seirei's sword with so much force that it flew in the other direction and out of the kunoichi's hands, falling down to the forest floor. Temari looked back at her opponent to see him standing where he was with his sword standing up on the tree branch in his hands. She had been made defenseless in mere seconds. With a snicker, she smiled, "Guess I should have expected that. You had beaten me before. Why should this be any different?" Seirei noticed a tear forming in one of Temari's eyes.

"I thought shinobi didn't show their emotions in the battlefield. Why do you?" Seirei asked with a sincere tone.

Temari didn't even make a gesture towards wiping away the tear, "Because, Seirei," As she blinked, the tear rolled down her cheek, "Because, this isn't a battle anymore, I've lost. I've lost to the only man who I have shown anything towards since my brothers." Temari did not begin to cry, as her life had made no room for such a thing, but sadness was shown in her eyes as she looked into Seirei's own.

Seirei walked towards Temari until their bodies were only inches away from each other. The just stood there for what seemed forever. One was barely holding their ground, trying not to collapse on the other. The other, was trying to do what they could do to stop this. Temari couldn't take the gazing into the shinobi's eyes any longer and lowered her head to the ground. Just as she did, she felt something wrap around her. Looking to her side, she saw that Seirei had brought her into an embrace.

"I'm sorry." Seirei said. With those words, Temari felt somewhat relieved of everything that had ever happened to her.

"Thank you." A small smile rolled onto her face, "I really needed to hear that." Just as she was getting comfortable in the embrace, Seirei brought her out of it and had grasped her arms in a gentle, relaxing way. Then everything went black.

"Women, what an amazing creation." Seirei lifted the unconscious Temari over his shoulder and went off towards Konoha, "But I no longer have that emotion."

* * *

Chichi and Hinata landed next to each other after having just dodged several senbon needles. Kankuro was keeping his ground surprisingly since it was three against one. Well, three against two. The puppet master had seperated the three, isolating Sakura with Kuroari, the red horned puppet, and dealing with Chichi and Hinata with Karasu, his original puppet. Karasu was relentless with shooting poisoned needles at his opponents, not giving either of them a chance to go on the offense. As for Sakura, being not fully experienced as the other two were, she was just evading the puppet and not trying to get killed.

"Yes, you little wimps, dance like puppets!" Kankuro cried out mockingly. He continued to swing around his arms, keeping his opponents on the run.

Sakura was able to throw some kunai in Kankuro's direction, but they were quickly blocked by Kuroari taking the brunt of the attack. After he took the kunai, he went sraight at Sakura at a quicker pace than before. The kunoichi was caught off guard by this sudden increase in speed, and for that, her leg was grabbed by the puppet. Kuroari dragged her body towards her, and as he did, the barrel belly that was his opened up and took Sakura in. Once she was in, the belly closed up and latched itself tight.

_'Time to finish off one of them.'_ Kankuro thought to himself, growing a smirk on his painted face.

With a tiny twitch of his right ring finger, Karasu's left arm detached from itself and ventrued towards it's puppet counterpart. Karasu did not discontinue from his persuit of Chichi and Hinata.

As the arm reached Kuroari, Kankuro boasted, "This is all that Konoha can do. Three leaf shinobi, against one sand, pathetic." Karasu's left then began hovering next to Kuroari, and to Hinata and Chichi's shock, extended a blade from itself. While this was all going on, Sakura was banging on the walls of the puppets belly, trying to break free and failing at it.

Chichi and Hinata both looked at each other, and speaking almost telepathically, they nodded at the same time.

Both looking back at Kankuro, Chichi said to Hinata, "Just the first one, okay?"

Hinata snorted, "Fine." And with that, she disappeared into the nothingness. Meanwhile, Chichi took one of his kunai from his shoulder strap and placed it slightly to the left of his mouth. Quickly moving it up and down, the notes quickly changed to make a fluttering noise.

* * *

A tree shattered into splinters as Gaara's sand fist smashed into it, missing its original target. Naruto landed feet away from where the tree once was, but he had no time to relax. He took another leap as the fist came at him again. This time when he landed, Naruto went into a sprint around the fist and down along the arm. With the Taifuu Kasoku, Naruto sped along the sand limb and reached the monstrous Gaara. Throwing in a punch, the blonde though he had made contact with Gaara's face, but instead, he had been blocked by his tail emerging from the bottom of his gourd. Naruto did not hesitate and jumped straight up as the sand fist slammed into the ground. As Naruto was in the air, he threw three shuriken down upon his opponent's head. A sand shield arose to block the shuriken, but just before the shuriken hit, a senbon needle did instead and made the sand shield fall apart.

"Got ya!" Musuko said, hidden in the trees.

However, as the shield vanished, the shurikens struck into a second sand shield. Gaara's animalistic mouth curved up into a sinister smile, "That trick is not going to work on me anymore." the sand ninja let out a laugh, a laugh that only would come from one who wanted blood.

Gaara's tail shot up towards a tree branch and wrapped itself around it, pulling Gaara to them. As he reached the branch, Gaara used his tail once again as a slingshot to fire himself at Naruto. The targeted ninja moved quickly and barely dodged the fist bashing into the earth, but he wasn't able to avoid the tail from striking him. The tail sent him into the air, making him a perfect target for, "Suna Shuriken!(Sand Shuriken)" Gaara extended his beastly hand at Naruto and out from the hand came speeding balls of sand right at him. About two or three made full contact until Naruto puffed out of existence, a shadow clone. Seeing that no one was around and the area was silent, Gaara took this moment of cease fire; to talk.

"This is all you got Naruto? You just run away from me?" Gaara questioned in a voice not his own, but that of a creatures, "And you, Musuko? The one who defeated me in my original form. Neither of you have touched me yet." Sand came emerging from the gourd and began covering the other half of Gaara's body, "But don't worry," Gaara's smile grew wider, "I'll make sure your deaths are nice and painful." Once he had finished, his entire body looked that of tanuki. With his hunched back, drooling mouth, and spewing of killer intent, he was a creature who feasted on others blood.

"Oh crap." Musuko complained, "This is bad. Very bad."

Naruto landed down next to Musuko on the branch, "So, we got a problem now don't we?" Musuko silently nodded, "His body is now covered in that sand of his, no way we can get a good shot in now."

"Not to mention he can just throw things back at us with his sand limbs." the sky ninja replied, "I just don't know how to hit him where it hurts."

Naruto snickered, "Yeah, give him an old fashion kick in the bu-" Naruto stopped himself short. A few seconds later, that foxy smile of his appeared. Musuko was smiling too, but had no idea as to why. Then Naruto turned to his sensei, "Keep him on you. I got an idea."

* * *

"Shikamaru?Shikamaru!" Ino yelled out her partner's name, but Shikamaru did not respond. "Come on Shikamaru, this is so unlike you. Why on earth did you run off? Shika-!" Her last cry was stopped short as a kunai whizzed by her head. Ino turned around to see that the group of sound ninja had caught up to her.

A barrage of shuriken came at her from behind, she was able to dodge most of them, but two or three scraped her legs and had cut off some of the bandages. When she landed, Ino went down to her knees, blood had been stained on her leg bandages, and the pain was too intense to go off running again. She had no other choice but to turn around and fight. When the blonde kunoichi turned about, infront of her was a group of smiling shinobi, ready to take her life. Ino took out a kunai from her pouch and stood her ground. With her legs trembling, due to the wounds still bleeding slightly, Ino smirked and began talking to herself.

_'Heh. So this is how it's going to end for me?'_ she smiled a bit more, _'As a genin, against eight sound ninja. Oh yeah, definetly a heck of a way to go.'_ Ino squeezed her kunai tighter, waiting for one of them to run forward. Just then, one did. He came at her with senbons in each fist, Ino readied herself, but then remembered, _'Wait! I haven't kissed Sasuke yet! I can't die! Not yet!'_ her courage that she had just had a few seconds ago had vanished in a second.

She winced away as the oncoming sound ninja pulled back his fist, covering her face. However, as she did look away, something had caught her eye before she covered them. It was a little yellow ball dangling on a branch to her right. She didn't know why that was the last thing she saw, but then it hit her like a bull. The yellow ball was a light bomb, something Shikamaru had always carried with him because of his justu. She knew that he was near and that he had formed a plan. That's when the plan took affect.

The light bomb blew up and illuminated the area in a blinding light. All the sound ninja flinched away from it, which then gave Ino the opportunity to sneak away behind some trees.

And just in time, "Kageman no jutsu." a black tentacle extended out from behind a tree and went towards the group of sound ninja. The tentacle split apart and attached itself to the shinobis' individual shadows which had been enlarge by the light bomb. Whent the light bomb's effects had faded away, Ino popped out of her hiding place and saw that all the ninja were squating down and holding their hands in a rat seal. Looking down from them, Ino saw her partner Shikamaru up in a tree in the same position.

"Took you long enough." Shikamaru said in a bored tone, "I was beginning to think that bringing them here would be a bit too troublesome for you."

A vein popped in Ino's forehead as she yelled at her pineapple friend, "Maybe if you TOLD me what the heck was going on, then MAYBE I could have gotten here sooner! I thought you abandoned me you jerk!"

Shikamaru let out a sigh, showing that he was finding this all too troublesome, "Just take care of these guys so we can meet up with the rest." Ino reluctantly agreed, and one by one dealt with the frozen sound ninja.

* * *

Kankuro was about to move his finger to shove the sword into Kuroari, which still possessed Sakura inside, when came Chichi making a full assault on him. The puppet master had to hold the execution off for awhile longer as he shoved his hand in front of himself, making Karasu swing into Chichi's way. The puppet opened its mouth and shot out several kunai. Chichi quickly jumped in the air and performed a corkscrew manuever, with two kunai in hand. As he spun, Chichi's kunai hit away the oncoming ones, and as he neared Karasu, he landed a double kick on the puppet's torso. The impact sent the puppet flying back into its controller and Chichi onto a far off branch.

Karasu had almost knocked Kankuro off from his own branch, but the master was able to keep his footing.

"Heh," Kankuro chuckled, "Enough stalling." moving his index finger downward, Karasu's arm sword plunged down into Kuroari, making a small stabbing noise. But Kankuro wasn't finished. He pulled out the blade and went to another hole in Kuroari as quickly as possible. The arm sword plunged into Kuroari again making the same stabbing noise. "One down." Kuroari opened up and dumped out the dead body of Sakura, "Two to go."

However, the second after Kankuro had finished his sentence, his opponents had disappeared. Kankuro knew he was now in a bad position, if you didn't see your opponent, then you're pretty much done for. He started to look around frantically, reacting to every small noise that the leaves made by jerking his head in that direction.

Just then, "Wi." Kankuro swung himself to the left just in time to see a white dot disappear into the trees. He sent over Karasu, but when the puppet shot over in that direction, nothing was there.

"Wi." The noise came from Kankuro's right now, and he sent Kuroari over to where he saw a black dot appear then leave. When the puppet went to the location, there was nothing there.

"Wi." It came from behind and to the right, "Wi." it came from in front of him, "Wi." above and two the left, "Wi. Wi. Wi. Wi." the wi's began to increase in number, sounding out all around Kankuro. He looked in every direction he heard the noise, but only to find dots of all colors disappearing from sight. The puppet master was to say the least confused. The sounds came closer and closer, making the puppet ninja even more nervous. Until finally...

"Wi." Kankuro looked straight up to see a foot getting bigger and bigger. Kankuro laid on the branch almost knocked out, but still conscious. He opened his eyes to see Chichi standing in front of him, and with a strange creature on his shoulder.

"Wha-What the heck was that? Genjutsu?" Kankuro asked, with a much energy as he could.

"Heh, far from it." the sky ninja replied. Petting the thing on his shoulder, he explained, "Meet the Wipon, the peek-a-boo, as I like to call them. They travel in packs of twenty to two hundred. What you had just witnessed was the Wipon's primary defense. When a predator appears, they scatter around said predator and pop out in different places, catching the attention of the predator. But then, another pops out to allow the others to move to another place so they remain safe. The predator becomes so confused or fearful that there may be more than one, that they run off. Or in this case, allow you to look about while I move in for the attack."

After the explanation, his partner, Hinata, landed down next to him. Then a few seconds later, so did Sakura.

Kankuro was about to go into unconsciousness until he saw the pink haired kunoichi, his eyes became saucers as he shouted, "This can't be! You're dead! I saw you fall out of Kuroari."

"She was dead." Chichi plainly said. Kankuro had a confused look, while at the same time Sakura was feeling the areas where the arm sword had stabbed into her. Chichi continued, "Well, she was _almost_ dead. My brothers and I have in our possession a medical jutsu that can practically perform miracles. The downside of this justu is that it takes away a whole lot of out chakra, but since I hardly use my chakra in fights, the jutsu was easy to perform."

"Then there was me." Hinata stepped forward, "The Wipon wouldn't have gotten here as quickly as they did, as they live in the jungles. Therefore, I went and retrieved them while you were busy with Chichi here."

"So..." Kankuro spoke quietly, "All this was planned?"

"Nope," the sky ninja answered, "Not one thing about it was. Planning takes too long." and with that, Sakura did a small blow to the puppeteer's neck, and his world went black.

Chichi lifted the shinobi over his shoulder, and signalled to the two females of the group to follow. He jumped from tree to tree, and so did the other two. They were on their way back to Konoha.

On their way back, it was quiet for most of the journey, until Chichi had broken the silence, "Hinata." said kunoichi turned to him in reaction, "You used the second gate, didn't you?" wide eyed, Hinata was shocked that he found out. In reaction, she lowered her head in shame, "Hey," the Hyuuga looked back at Chichi, "It's okay. I just wanted you not to go to far, that's all." he gave her a smile to try to comfort her.

She cracked a smile herself, and said, "You were afraid that I'd go to _that,_ didn't you?"

Chichi looked forward, but Hinata could see in his eyes that he was looking into his past, "I just don't want you to go through what I did." Just then, Hinata made an abrupt stop, making the Chichi and Sakura both stop as well. Hinata walked to Chichi to where she was only a few inches away from him. Then, standing on her toes, she gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"As long as I have this," she pulled out the diamond tear necklace that Chichi had given her, "I will be with you always. And as long as that's so, I'll never do anything that you don't want me to." A smile grew on the grey haired ninja's face, and he pulled Hinata into an embrace with his free arm.

"Thanks." Hinata smiled as well and made herself comfortable in the hug.

Until, "Eh hem." Sakura interrupted their little moment and quickly the two broke apart with blushes on their cheeks.

Chichi spoke up, scratching the back of his head, "We should probably be going now." Hinata nodded, and the two went off, with Sakura following close behind.

_'What the heck is going on around here?'_ Sakura thought to herself, _'Everything has gone topsy-turvy ever since these Sky Ninja had arrived. Hinata, she no longer stutters. Naruto, he...he's different. Sasuke, he has become more detatched from us since the forest.'_ she paused for a moment, _'Then...then there's me. I have become stronger ever since that night Musuko knocked some sense into me. He showed me that I wanted to get stronger, he showed me that I had to get stronger, in order to win Sasuke over.'_ she shooked her head violently, seeming to get rid of some thought, _'No, that's not the reason why he did it. But why then? Why would he help someone like me who was weak to start with?'_ Thought after thought after thought had ran through her mind, trying to come up with a reason. She could only find one, and that was when she remembered Musuko kissing her on the forehead, _'Could it be?'_

Musuko let out a sneeze as he waited up in the trees for Naruto to give the signal.

At the moment, he had no idea what his student was thinking about, or how he was going to penetrate Gaara's sand body. All Naruto said to him was, "It's something I've had a personal experience with." What that meant to the sky ninja was a mystery to the ninja himself. However, he trusted his student, and followed his orders. All of a sudden, he saw a light coming from a reflective surface. The sign.

The next moment, Musuko jumped down in front of Gaara, who was somewhat caught by surprise, but not entirely. His arm crashed into the ground, missing Musuko.

"So, you finally come out of hiding. I was getting lonely." the sand beast said with a sickening grin. He shot his fist again at Musuko, but Musuko did as he was told to do; keep Gaara busy.

Naruto was waiting behind Gaara up in a tree, trying to find an opening so he could strike. The blonde noticed that Gaara's tail was a perfect shield if anything came near it, as well as a third arm. What he came to was that he needed Musuko to take him up to the trees, so he could get a better aim. Naruto then created a shadow clone, and had it run over to his sensei.

Back with Musuko, he was still dodging all the attacks with some ease to it. However, it was getting harder with each dodge, he could tell somehow. Gaara this time, instead of throwing a punch, opened up his arms and sent out a barrage of suna shuriken. Musuko survived the attack without even getting a scratch. Then without warning, he began to bleed from his left arm.

"What?" the white haired shinobi was baffled by the cut on his arm. He thought for sure he had dodged all the shuriken.

"Heh heh heh." Gaara made a low chuckling noise, "Still don't get it do you? You may have dodged my attacks, but they always leave something behind. When I hit something, small grains of sand fly out. You don't notice them, so then a send them to attach to you. Bit by bit you get heavier, and eventually, you are unable to dodge any of my moves." Gaara pulled back his arm, "Like this one!" he shot his arm straight at Musuko. Musuko jumped, but realized that he was not moving fast enough to dodge the attack.

"Oh crap." the sky ninja said as he was tackled to the ground. Naruto's shadow clone had just got Musuko out of the way before the attack could make a fatal hit. Looking up at his student, he said, "Thanks man, I owe you one."

The clone smiled and replied, "Go up." That was all he could say as another strike came from Gaara and poofed him out of existance. Taking in what the clone said, Musuko looked up into the trees, and jumped up. Gaara followed him up into the branches, pulling himself up with his tail. Now was the time to strike.

Naruto jumped out of his hiding spot and headed towards the left of Gaara. But as Gaara was attacking Musuko for another time, he sensed Naruto coming from behind.

"You think you can sneak up on me?" the sand beast shot his left arm at Naruto. But the leaf ninja quickly created a shadow clone in midair and jumped off of it into another direction. The clone took the blow, but that didn't stop Gaara. He turned around towards Naruto and shot his other arm at his prey, but yet again, Naruto made another clone and leapt off of it down towards Gaara's branch. Naruto was not but seven feet away from the sand beast as he made another shadow clone and jump kick underneath the branch before Gaara could get a hit on him. Once more, Naruto made a final clone which he jumped off and drew out a kunai from his pouch. On the kunai was an explosion note.

With the kunai and a few choice words, "Sennen Goroshi! (Thousand Years of Death)", Naruto plunged the kunai into the base of the tail, around the buttox region. As soon as he placed the kunai however, he was struck by Gaara's tail and sent flying backwards. Faintly, the blonde said with a smile, "Boom."

* * *

Seirei was now by himself. He had dropped off Temari in a secluded area where she can rest, but not escape. The sky ninja found his way to a giant purple barrier on top of the roof where the Hokage was last seen. He found a good place to watch what seemed to be a fight going on inside of the barrier. As he knelt down to watch, he took out his book and began to read while at the same time watching, and waiting.

"Yet again, I am doomed to watch."

* * *

Chichi, Hinata, and Sakura all arrived in the city of Konoha, where they came to see an enourmous toad in the center of the city. On top of this massive amphibian's head, was an old man with a headband that had the 'oil' symbol written on it. They could see him smiling as he was wiping out a majority of the invading shinobi.

Just then, Kakashi landed down infront of them, and stared the three down with his one eye, "I thought I gave you an order to go after Gaara." Sakura lowered her head, realizing that she had just disobeyed her sensei's orders.

"My apologies Kakashi-san," replied Chichi, "but we had a run-in with his other sibling, Kankuro, and as you can see," he displayed the knocked out puppeteer to Kakashi, "we needed to drop him off."

"That's very good, but my orders were specifically-"

"Don't worry," Chichi interrupted, "My brother, Musuko, and Naruto are dealing with him right now. We were just gonna drop Kankuro off to you guys, then head back to help them out." and with that, Chichi handed Kankuro over to Kakashi, who took him and gave to them a satisfying look.

"OK, you guys take care. It looks like we will win this battle, but we won't know for sure until Gaara is defeated, he seems to be their secret weapon." The three genin nodded and jumped back into the woods to go after Gaara.

Kakashi turned around and was about to head to the holding facility, when he stopped to think, _'When did Hinata get a diamond necklace?'_ the cyclop ninja merely shook it off for the moment, and went on with his business.

* * *

BANG!!!

A huge explosion could be heard a mile away, as the kunai explosion note, that was conviently placed in Gaara's rearend, exploded.

Naruto landed on a branch, but with his back hitting the tree trunk hard. Musuko quickly ran over to his student to see if he was alright. Luckily enough, he was. The two of them looked to see what kind of effect Naruto's little stunt had on Gaara's sand body. With astonishment, it did do something. Not alot damage, but from the looks of it, Gaara's entire left side including the tail was nothing but blobs of sand hanging off of his sides. What made it even better, was that Gaara was wheezing.

_'*breathe breathe* Curses. He hit where my armor was weakest. I shouldn't handle these two lightly anymore, I gotta-What's this?'_ Gaara gave an inward smile, _'Heh heh. I guess there will be no need to now.'_

The three genin were about two thirds of the way to where Musuko and Naruto were. Chichi had activated his Mitarigan to locate his brother, and with the given information, they headed out in that direction.

"Chichi." Sakura called out to said ninja.

"Yeah?"

"What are we up against if Gaara is the invasion's 'secret weapon'? If he sent all three of us against one genin, then he must be strong or something."

"Well, from what I got out of the Musuko's Mitarigan, we're dealing with a monster. A big sand monster."

Sakura, a bit shocked, "What? What do you mean by a monster?"

"Like I said Sakura, Gaara is covered in his sand and has changed his form into that of a monster. This new form is probably stronger, faster, and more deadly from the looks of it." Sakura made a gulping noise, "Our best bet for survival is to evade his attacks until we can find an opening to strike. Hinata." the Hyuuga turned her head, "We don't open any unless absolutely necessary." Hinata nodded, and the three continued on their trek to the battle.

_'Open what?'_ another question was added to Sakura's mind.

* * *

Gaara right now was at even ground with the two genin. With his left arm and tail gone, he needed to buy time to regain the sand into the form he wanted. To buy that time, he kept the two at a distance by shooting suna shuriken at a higher rate than before. They were able to make some shots with their kunai, but luckily enough, the sand skin was too thick to make actual damage to him. However, he was not just buying time to regain his form, but so that the others he sensed would come. Yes there was a strong chakra level with them, but there was also a weak one, he could use them as a hostage. Then finish them all off once and for all.

Finally that time had come to pass. Out of nowhere, a kunai landed into Gaara's back, not harming him though. He turned while at the same time forming a smile, "I was wondering when you would get here." he gave them no time to comment as he shot out a barrage of suna shuriken at the three genin. The three reacted by splitting up into different directions. "Heh heh, got you." his left arm had reformed just in time. With it, the sand beast shot a barrage at Naruto and Musuko to keep them busy, while at the same time, using his right arm to fire right at Sakura.

The kunoichi was still in midair about to land when she saw the hand already halfway to its target. She had no way of dodging it.

Hinata noticed it, and dashed to Sakura's rescue. _'I'm not going to make it in time.'_ for a split second she turned and looked at Chichi, _'Forgive me.'_ just then she was surrounded by blue chakra and advanced at greater speeds. Chichi noticed this, and instantly jumped off into her direction, trying to stop her.

But it was too late, Hinata got to Sakura in time and pushed her out of the way, but at a price. The sand arm struck her instead, slamming her up against a nearby tree. The hand didn't let go of the Hyuuga, as Gaara spoke in his bestial tone, "You weren't the one I was aiming for," he smiled, "But you will still do." just then, he detached his right arm from his hand, leaving Hinata pinned to the tree where she was. Looking back at the others, still with his smile, Gaara said, "That will grow tighter and tighter until she is crushed to death." Chichi ran over to the hand and began to pry away at it, Gaara chuckled, "No good, the hand will only go away if you defeat me. Until then, she begins to die now." after he finished his statement, the hand squeezed just a bit tighter, making Hinata gasp out.

Chichi moved away from the hand and stood up erect. "I must defeat you right?"

"Heh heh," Gaara got into a ready position, "That's right."

"Fine." the area around his eyes began to shadow, "I'll kill you." his skin began to turn into a slight shade of grey.

"Oh crap!" Musuko shouted out, "Sakura, Punch him out."

"Who? Gaara?" Sakura asked.

"No, Chichi."

"What?! Why?"

"Punch Chichi out now!" the kunoichi was utterly confused, but when he looked back up at Chichi, he felt an astonishing amount of killer intent coming from the gray haired ninja's location. "It's too late for that now." Musuko extended his arm towards his fellow comrade and in the next second shot Chichi with a senbon needle in the neck. When Chichi was struck, his skin turned back to normal, and the killer intent faded away as he fell on the branch.

"You killed him!" Naruto bursted out.

"No I didn't," Musuko retorted, "I put him in a near death state, like that hunter-nin did on your mission to the Wave Country. If I hadn't done that, we'd be in deep trouble."

Naruto gave a look of understanding, until, "Wait...how did you know a had a mission in-"

"No time for that now." Musuko interrupted, "Right now, we're down two men." He turned to Sakura, "Are you okay Sakura?"

Sakura did not respond. For in fact, she wasn't okay. _'Hinata.'_ she looked at the struggling kunoichi, _'You saved me. How did you? You moved so fast. Did you really improve that much? And me, why me? Ever since the beginning, I've been nothing but a liability to others, just getting in the way. Even now, I've put Hinata and the others in danger.' _she clenched her fists, _'But no more,' _Sakura leapt from her branch and flew straight at Gaara with a clenched fist following behind her, _'Now, I am no longer just someone who drags down others!'_ she saw Gaara smile, which quickly knocked Sakura out of her revelation and back into her original self. _'What was I thinking?!'_

Quickly, she was caught by Musuko and thrown away from Gaara's flying arm. The two landed at a safe distance. The white haired shinobi placed down his rescuee and looked at her with angered eyes, "I've told you, not to attack in anger."

"I'm sorry." Sakura replied weakly, "It's just that, Hinata, and Chichi..." she paused, brushing back her hair, "I just...I just don't want to be a liability anymore, to anyone."

Sakura felt so pathetic telling Musuko this, but when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she looked up to see kindness in his eyes.

"You really want to stop getting in others' way? You really want to help?" Sakura slowly nodded. Musuko neared her and whispered into her ear, "Find love." Right after he said that, he grabbed onto Sakura, "But not right now." he leapt into the air with Sakura in hand, and the two just dodged another one of Gaara's attacks.

_'Find love?'_ Was all that was going through Sakura's head for the moment she was in the air. She had not even noticed the giant arm of sand striking right where they had been standing. _'Love?'_ Musuko let go of Sakura, and that got her back into the world of reality.

The three were now together. They knew that they had not much time to beat Gaara, but they had to, to save Hinata.

"Okay, anyone got any plans?" Sakura asked, getting into a fighting stance like the other two.

Gaara was the first to respond, with a sinister smile that just said that he was going to kill. "Now you all die." the fiend let out a meniacal laughter as sand spewed out of his gourd, surrounding him. Slowly the blob of sand grew larger and larger, and had started taking form. At last it became a giant tanuki with black streaks all across its sand skin. On top of this monster's head, was Gaara half buried in the sand.

Needless to say, the three genin were far from shocked, they were absolutely frightened. Musuko said, "Oh crap. Anyone have any plans now?"

"Unless, you know something that is that big." Sakura responded first, "I suggest we run."

Just then, Naruto had another idea, "Wait! I do know something that big!"

"Sabaku Kyu!" Gaara shouted out. Sand floated around all three of them, but Gaara had only one target in mind as of now, Musuko.

The sand closed in on the white haired shinobi as he tried his best to evade it, but the sand continued to get closer and closer. After multiple attempts to remove the problem with his senbon needles, the sand finally caught up to him and took hold of his left foot, making him trip to the ground.

Both Naruto and Sakura looked on in shock as the sand slowly crawled up their teammates leg, almost to his hip.

"What are we going to do?" Sakura said in both anger and worry. She was about to run over to Musuko to try to save him, but Naruto stopped her before she could get any further.

"I'll deal with this." with that, he sped across the gap between his sensei and himself. The sand came closer to the sky ninja, and he knew he had no way of escaping it, not this time. But then, Naruto shouted out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" the blond leapt into the midst of the sand and slammed down his hand into the ground, right in front of Musuko.

The sand was about to fully consume them, guaranteeing their deaths. However, a large burst of smoke enveloped the small area that the shinobi had been recently fighting in. And when the smoke cleared, both Musuko and Naruto were standing upon the head of a massive toad whom was smoking a pipe.

Naruto was kind of surprised that he had summoned Gamabunta once again, but not as surprised as Sakura and Musuko. But Musuko, he was even more surprised, as he had no memory of teaching Naruto one bit about summons, or even saying the word 'toad'. Something was up with Naruto, Musuko could feel it in his toes. But that would have to be dealt with some other time. Right now, they were in the middle of an intense fight; a fight of the giants, and Naruto supplied them with something that made the grounds even again.

"Where am I?" Gamabunta spoke, with an irritated tone, "Who has summoned me? I was in the middle of a drink!"

"That would be me, Toad Boss." the large toad turned his eyes up to see, the blonde who had summoned him the last time.

"Ah yes, you. I thought I told you not to summon us unless it was absolutely necessary." Gamabunta was about to shake both ninja off his head, when Naruto interrupted.

"Wait! If you just look right in front of you, you will see that it is absolutely necessary." the Toad Boss looked forward a bit annoyed, but when he saw the giant sand beast, his attitude changed to one of a serious fighter.

"Mmm, Shukaku." Gamabunta mumbled.

"You know him?" Naruto asked. The toad replied, "Yes. He is the one-tailed demon. Very powerful, but he takes pleasure in death and chaos. From what I have heard recently, he was sealed into a child many years ago." he took a puff from his pipe and continued, "Seems that the boy on his head is that child. But it seems that the seal was not done well."

"What makes you say that?" Musuko questioned.

"Look at his eyes. He shows obvious signs that he has not slept for months, maybe even years. The seal put on his was so poorly done, that when he went to sleep, Shukaku would try to take over. By doing this, Shukaku would have slowly destroyed Gaara's person until he had full control of it."

"So what are you saying, toad?" Gamabunta glared at the white haired ninja, "I mean, Toad Boss."

"That's better. It means that when the boy went to sleep, Shukaku took over. So to prevent that, he stayed awake, for years, thus gaining insomnia."

Musuko and Naruto looked back to Gaara and Shukaku, who were still standing there. Musuko spoke up, "He must not have full control of the body, Shukaku is not moving at all."

A faint chuckle could be heard from across the massive gap between the giants, as it came from Gaara. "So you were able to stay alive. But not for long," Gaara clapped his hands together, "Now see the true power, and how you will all die."

Sakura, not really being apart of any of this, was completely shocked at the sight she had just seen. A giant sand tanuki, a giant toad, a tailed demon, and that Naruto has come this far since she last saw him. Musuko was right, Naruto had gotten stronger. She looked at everyone. Musuko, a mystery still to her, but was incredibly skilled and for some reason wants to help her. Hinata, seeing her wince in pain as the sand gripped tighter around her, even she had improved. She was stronger, faster, and even her fighting style had changed drastically since her fight against Neji. Everyone that she looked at, including Gaara, had been able to grow this strong at such a young age, was by far amazing. And yet, she felt down inside, that she wasn't, no, she knew that she wasn't even half as strong as anyone here. So...why was she even here, in this fight at all? All she has done was to get in the way, twice! Lowering her head in shame, Sakura started beating herself up inside.

Until, "Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu!" Gaara shouted out, and then became a lifeless shell of himself directly after.

The eyes of the sand beast the Gaara was upon changed from all black, to having a brown and tan iris with shuriken pupils. The beast sat up, looking more and more intimidating.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked a bit worried now that the beast began to move.

"Gaara forced himself into a deep sleep." the Toad Boss responded, "Now with Gaara out of the picture, Shukaku has full power over the body."

**"He he he he!"** Shukaku released a maniacal laughter, **"I'm finally out!"** Looking over at Gamabunta, he smiled, **"Look! Something to kill!"**

"He's coming at us now." Musuko said calmly, yet still tense.

The battle of the giants had begun with Shukaku running on all fours after his toady prey. When he reached his target, Shukaku swung his left claw at Gamabunta. The Toad Boss quickly leapt up with his amphibian feet and flew high into the air, dodging the attack. While he was in the air, Gamabunta moved his hand to his back, where he took hold of a dagger hanging from his back. The small weapon may have appeared to be small for Gamabunta, but for anyone else it was a giant weapon the size of a great tree. As Gamabunta descended, Shukaku took notice of his prey above him. The sand beast opened his mouth and out of it flew out two balls of air. Gamabunta noticed this as well and shot his own attack. The Toad Boss spat out from his mouth two waterballs which collided with the air attacks.

When the two elements struck each other, it became a typhoon for those who were on the ground. Those being Sakura, Hinata, and the unconscious Chichi. Hinata was safe from being blown away, but Chichi on the other hand, was slowly being picked up by the wind. Sakura saw the sky ninja rolling off the branch he was lying on and was about to fall to his death. The pink haired kunoichi rushed over to where Chichi was to land, opened up her arms and caught Chichi. However, the wind speed made Chichi seem a whole lot heavier than he really was, and so Sakura fell down onto the ground with Chichi lying on top of her. With the dead weight on top of her and the wind beating down on them, Sakura could not lift him off of her. So instead, she held on to him tightly so that neither one of them would be blown away.

After the attacks had been countered, Gamabunta raised his dagger above his head, and just before landing, swung it downward and cutting off one of Shukaku's arms. When the Toad Boss landed, he immediately jumped to the side just in case Shukaku tried to make an attack on him. Landing a far distance from any quick attack, Gamabunta gave a big heave as he pulled back his dagger.

"His arm is made of pure sand. It's harder to cut through than an actual arm." Once Gamabunta said this, Shukaku's arm deteriorated and flowed back into his body. When all of the arm was gone, another arm grew in it's place. Gamabunta gave a small snuff of displeasure, "As long as there is sand around, even if it's his own arm, he can regenerate from any attack. What ever we do to him will be of no use."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Naruto asked. Both him and Musuko have been holding on for dear life onto the toad's skin as he was jumping around.

"We have to wake up the boy on his head." Gamabunta directed their attention to Gaara, still sleeping. "If he is awaken, then Shukaku will return into the boy and he will become weaker."

"How do we wake him up?" Naruto asked his toad summon.

"For how long it has been since he used the jutsu, the boy would need just to be struck by your fist. But there's just one problem."

"And what's that?" Musuko asked.

"To wake up the boy, we need to get close, and that means we have to hold down Shukaku for awhile. I can't do that because I have nothing to hold him down with. We something with claws or teeth." looking up to his summoner, "You know anything that can hold him down?"

Naruto pondered over what he knew of anything that could hold Skukaku down, but nothing could come to his mind. "Sorry, Toad Boss, I can't think of anything at all. Nothing that can be brought here in time."

Musuko went absolutely silent. He started looking at his right hand, then looking at Naruto, and back at his hand. In his eyes, you could tell he was trying to make a decision of magnitude. Finally, Musuko spoke, "I know of something." Naruto turned quickly over to his sensei with a smile on his face.

"Really? What? What is it? A summon?" the blonde was asking questions, over excited of course. However, Musuko was far from having an excited expression.

The white haired shinobi walked up to Naruto and said, "Forgive me." Naruto gave a confused look and was about to ask Musuko why he said that, but Musuko didn't give him enough time as he punched Naruto out.

The blonde landed on his back on top of Gamabunta's head. The toad looked up, "What are you doing?"

Musuko knelt down next to Naruto and lifted his orange shirt to show his belly, "I'm getting you something with claws and teeth." _'I just hope this works. I don't think I have enough chakra left.'_ he raised his hand into a claw. The tips of his fingers glowing with blue chakra. "'Gyakufuin Jutsu!" the white haired ninja slammed his hand into Naruto's stomach.

Like the time before, Naruto clenched his stomach in pain after Musuko turned the seal upside down. Soon, the blonde's body was growing red fur, and his teeth grew sharper. Before anymore of Naruto changed, Musuko shoved his student off of Gamabunta's head. The toad thought that Musuko had gone mad and had just killed his own ally, but after seeing Naruto land on the ground three times his normal size and still growing, Gamabunta knew that something was happening to his summoner.

In only a few more seconds, Kyuubi stood erect next to Gamabunta and made a spine-chilling roar. The Toad Boss stepped away from the nine-tailed fox, as he knew just what this demon was capable of.

Kyuubi took in his surroundings. He saw in front of him Shukaku with a human stuck on his forehead. To his left, Gamabunta, who looked like he did not know from friend or foe. On top of Gamabunta's head, he saw Musuko laying on his back breathing heavily.

**"I am free once again."** looking over, Kyuubi snarled at Shukaku. Shukaku did the same in return. **"What is wrong with you boy?"** Kyuubi directed his question to Musuko, **"You have released me, but I have a feeling not for long."**

Musuko slowly sat up and looked at the giant fox before him. "You're right." Breathing harder now, "Naruto's seal... is rejecting me now... I only gave you... two minutes..."

Gamabunta continued with the debriefing, though not entirely sure that he could trust the fox demon, "You need to hold down Shukaku so that Musuko can deliver a punch to the boy on top of Shukaku's head. That should diminish his power and then be easily defeated." His eyes moved up to look at the white haired ninja on his head, "You think you have enough strength left."

Slowly, Musuko stood up, "Yeah." taking in one last big breath, "That justu took alot of my chakra, but I still have enough strength."

"Good." Gamabunta said. Looking at Kyuubi, "Think you can handle him, foxy?" adding a hint of insult to the 'foxy'.

Kyuubi snarled, not answering. He turned to Shukaku, who had been idle for the moment, and was now taking action. The one-tailed demon shot out more airballs at his new fox opponent. Kyuubi dodged and deflected the balls with his tails. With each air attack, Kyuubi got closer and closer, until finally. *SNAP! CLUNCH!* The nine-tailed fox grabbed hold of the tanuki with his tails, claws, and fangs, making the demon completely immobilized.

**"How's that for handling him, wart?"** Kyuubi retorted with his mouth full of Shukaku's shoulder.

Gamabunta wasted no time, he leapt right over in front of Shukaku and lowered his head so that Musuko could get a clear shot. "Now!" cried the Toad Boss.

The sky ninja jumped off the toad's head and headed straight for the sleeping Gaara. He landed on Shukaku's head, and ran over to where Gaara was. Suddenly, his feet stopped moving, the sand around his feet had latched onto him. Musuko was only two feet away from Gaara, so he took his arm back to deliver the punch. But then his arm was entangled in a sand tentacle from behind. His other arm was taken too by the sand, and the sand began to cover Musuko. Gamabunta tried to remove some of the sand by use of his tongue, but the sand just kept coming.

"Kid!" Gamabunta called out to Musuko, "You gotta wake him up! It doesn't matter how, just do it!"

And so, in a last ditch effort, Musuko threw in his head, which had not yet been taken by the sand. His headband bashed into Gaara's forehead, making a gash where the impact was made. Slowly Gaara's eyes opened up; he was awake.

**"Nooo!" **Shukaku cried out, as his eyes changed to their normal form, **"I just got out!"**

The sand around Musuko receeded away, leaving him out of harm's way, for now. When Gaara gained full consciousness of where he was, and that Musuko was standing right in front of him, he became angered. "You!" the sand shot out around Musuko, "You will die for what you did!" the sand closed in on the sky ninja. Gamabunta was able to intervene with his tongue as he wrapped it around Musuko's area. The sand could not get through, but it didn't stop it from coming from the bottom of the tongue shield.

"Toad Boss!" Musuko shouted in the tongue shield, "When I say now, remove your tongue." Gamabunta did a slight nod and waited for the command.

"Now!" with that, the tongue was taken away, revealing a white haired shinobi jutting at Gaara's body. Musuko made contact and tackled Gaara. With the force of the tackle, Gaara was pulled out of Shukaku's head and flew in the air with Musuko as well.

Since Gaara no longer was attached to the sand tanuki, the sand dispersed into a large pile on the forest floor. Gamabunta saw that the fight was officially over, and so disperrsed to his world, and with the two minutes up, Kyuubi fell onto his side, and slowly transformed into his blonde host's form. Both Musuko and Gaara landed in the treetops, softening their descent to the ground...slightly. Gaara was the first to hit the ground. Landing on his back, Gaara's sand gourd broke into pieces. With the impact, Musuko rolled off of the sand ninja and landed a few feet away from his opponent. Neither one had any energy left to even stand and face each other let alone continue on fighting. All that they did was breath and talk.

"Why?" Gaara uttered. Musuko replied, "Why what?"

"You. Why do you fight for a village that you don't live in? This is not your fight."

"That's where you're wrong, Gaara." Musuko smiled, "As long as any village shares the sky, it is our villages duty to protect it." he gave what he had to turn his head to look at Gaara, "That means even your village too."

Gaara didn't move his head, but his eyes looked over to the sky ninja. "You weren't the one who defeated me." Musuko was too weak to make a reaction, "It was that leaf shinobi wasn't it?" Gaara looked back up to the sky, "He weakened my sand body, he summoned that toad to save you, he held me down in a beast form for you to make the final blow. It wasn't you who beat me... it was him."

Musuko turned his head back to the sky like Gaara, still smiling, "Yep. I guess you're right. He really has gone far. _Further than what I thought he'd do.' _He whispered the last part to himself.

The two just laid there, not speaking for awhile. And then, Gaara spoke, "There's really no one coming to get us, is there."

The sky ninja smiled, "Nope." and he started laughing. And if he wasn't mistaken, Musuko thought he heard a chuckle or two coming from Gaara.

* * *

Time had passed and some chuunins had come to retrieve the ninjas. Chichi and Naruto were found unconscious, Hinata as well. She had been freed from the sand's clutches, but passed out from the pressure. Musuko and Gaara were still too weak to stand and so were carried off back to Konoha. Left behind was Gaara's broken gourd and the pile of sand where Shukaku once was.

On their way back to the village, Naruto had awakened, and was debriefed on everyone's status that came along with him on the fight by the ninja carrying him.

Then at last, they had reached the Hokage's tower. Multiple buildings had been demolished, as well as some of the village's walls, but Konoha was able to hold their ground and the sand and sound ninjas all retreated. Everything was alright, very few casualties, minimal damage, and Musuko, Hinata, and Chichi had gained back most of their strength. That is, until...

"What? Where? How?" Naruto shouted out his questions as he had heard the bad news. Being told where, the blonde had bolted off to the chunin exams arena. Landing on the roof where the Hokage sat to watch the matches, the blonde saw a forest had grown from beneath the tiles. And in the middle of this forest, was a white blanket, covering a body.

* * *

**Can anyone guess whose body it is? I'll give you a hint, it's- oh who am I kidding! It's Sarutobi! There, everyone knows now!**

**Egad! What's this, a review?! That's hard to come by for me. Hope others review. And to my latest reviewer, Judah, Chichi was a weird name to give him, but after awhile, you kinda get used to it.**

**Anyways, review, and until then, I'm out like about minus ab.**

**Hope you all enjoyed it.**


	12. Seirei

Chapter 12 of **Sky Ninja** is officially up and running.

After awhile of reading and watching some Naruto, as well as reading. I've noticed that I have some duplicates. Like the whole sky ninjas thing, the fifth movie has these. I made up these guys and their village all before I even knew about that. Then there are the Mitarigan/Rinnigan, Seirei's book(not yet found out, but is in this chapter), and even the Heaven Gates...I mean honestly, Lee has the celestial gates! not much of a difference huh? Oh well, just need you guys to know that none of this is duplicated on purpose, they just came up with the same ideas as I did. Meaning I'm a possible future manga writer. Huzzah!

**disclaimer: don't own Naruto...that's it**

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* * *

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Landing on the roof where the Hokage sat to watch the matches, Naruto saw a forest had grown from beneath the tiles. And in the middle of this forest, was a white blanket, covering a body.

"No..." eyes wide and sadness in his voice, Naruto slowly walked towards the covered body, "It can't be...he's... he's not supposed to die yet. Not yet..." falling to his knees right next to the dead Sarutobi, Naruto started crying. "Orochimaru, you'll pay for this. I swear.

Naruto then felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, it was Seirei, with his sword placed on his back. "I'm sorry for your loss." Just then, Musuko, Chichi, and the other members who went after Gaara, appeared.

"We're all very sorry." Musuko said next, "He was a great man."

"He was the greatest ninja alive in all of Konoha!" Naruto retorted, he had anger in his eyes now, as well as tears, "He should not have died to some traitor!"

Seirei spoke out, "It was his time." the black haired shinobi then felt Naruto's fist run across his face.

"You have no idea what or who he was! Do you have any idea what it's like to lose someone you love?!" at that statement, both Chichi's and Musuko's heads shot up and looked at Naruto.

Musuko, not looking at the others, said to them, "Oh crap... We should go now."

"Wha-Why?" asked Hinata.

"Just do it." Chichi said worringly. With that, the others complied and left Seirei and Naruto alone.

"You've probably not even seen someone you know die." Naruto continued to yell at Seirei, "You're probably one of those rich, stuck-up, as-ACK!" Naruto couldn't say anymore, because Seirei grabbed him by the throat and shoved him up against one of the trees from the forest.

"Do I have any idea what it's like to lose someone?" Seirei paused, pushing Naruto further up the tree, "It hurts, doesn't it? You feel like you just lost your whole world just now? You're now wishing that somehow, you could have stopped it from happening, right? But you know that you can't. You picture in your head how he could have died. You think he died in some glorious way because you didn't see how he did died. You mourn for his death for a few days, then you slowly loose that feeling and just feel sad that he died. Then in a few months, you'll almost had forgotten him, if it wasn't for the monument that they will build in his honor. Everytime you pass by that statue you will remember your thought of how glorious he did die. You'll think of the great times you had, and all the bad times. But you'll only think about it when you are at the statue, just because you didn't see him die. If you did see him die, that's another story. You would go nowhere near that statue, because it would play in your mind again and again, every day and every night. That terrible image of him dying. You'd eventually grow to love him more and more, but you would act out and attack anyone who disgraced him or even said something that wasn't nice about the Hokage position. Right now, you're probably wondering how on earth I've read you so perfectly. Then after some thinking, you'd find out that indeed I have some idea of what it's like to lose someone." With his speech almost done, he threw Naruto across the rooftop. The blonde struck a tree with so much force that the tree fell down, and yet Naruto had felt nothing.

When he lifted himself up from his throw, Naruto was once again picked up by Seirei, "Tell you what. When you see about 10,000 more deaths, then come talk to me about not knowing how you feel." Seirei dropped him where he landed, and walked away.

What was left was a stunned Naruto with some scratches on his jacket. He laid there, looking at the back of Seirei. His sword strapped tightly, and that book which he always read, secured in his pocket.

_'He... he lost... ten... thousand people? How? How is he still alive?'_ with that in his mind, Musuko came over and Naruto was helped up to his feet.

"Well, you learned your first lesson about us. Don't accuse us of anything, especially accusing Seirei." the white haired shinobi warned his student.

"What happened to him? That he saw... 10,000 people die?" Naruto asked, still not taking his eyes off of Seirei.

Musuko looked at his partner as well, "Very, very, very touchy subject. If you want to find out, you'll have to ask him yourself."

"Do you know what happened to him?" Naruto asked, slightly suspecting that Musuko hadn't heard of it either.

"Yes, I know what happened to him far too well. Just like I know what happened to you." Musuko turned and began walking away towards Seirei's direction.

"Wait, what do you know about-"

"You'll find out all about us in time, Naruto. In time." Musuko chuckled at what he said, and continued walking after Seirei. Leaving like they always did, with a confused shinobi scrathing their own head.

* * *

The days passed after Sarutobi's death, and it had finally come to the day of the funeral. Everyone had attended and were all dressed in their mourning clothes, even though it had started to rain. The young genins all had white flowers in hand, ready to place them on the Hokage's coffin. One by one, everyone in the village placed a flower on the coffin. Everyone, except the three Sky Ninjas. They were watching the funeral from a distance on a rooftop in the rain.

"So, this is what a funeral is like?" Chichi asked his brothers.

"Yes, Brother Chichi," Seirei replied, "This is what happens when one passes away that others care about."

"This is so different. I wish we did this for when my father died."

Musuko said, "Chichi, you're father was a beast."

"I know, but I just wished my tribe had given him a burial instead of just letting him lie there."

"Look," Seirei spoke up, "I don't know much about your tribe or its culture, but what they do is what they think is right."

"Yeah, I guess." Chichi agreed with his partner, "My mother did me tell that it is because the warrior spirit must find its way into others. If the body is at all altered, it is forever lost."

The three went back to their silence as they watched some more of the funeral. Nearing the end, the raining had come to a halt, and the sun slowly came out from behind the clouds.

Seirei, looking a the beam of light coming from the clouds, "It's a sign. To remind others that no matter how cloudy something may appear, there is always a patch of sunlight somewhere within it."

"Always look on the bright side of life." Chichi smiled as he started whistling a tune on his kunai.

Musuko, "If life seems pretty rotten..."

Seirei, now smiling, "There's something that you've forgotten..."

Chichi, finishing their little rhyme, "And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing."

At that, the three started laughing out loud.

"Oh, our sensei always knew how to keep our spirits up. Even mine." Seirei leaned back on his area of rooftop.

"Yeah, it'll be good to see her again, after all of this." Musuko leaned back as well.

Chichi remained sitting up, "She might be the Kuukage when we get back."

"Maybe." Musuko closed his eyes as he spoke, as did Seirei. The two lied down, listening to their gray haired comrade play a song on his kunai.

* * *

A week had gone by, and everything was almost back to normal. That's if you don't include the rebuilding of the village that was attacked, and the interrogations of some captured ninjas. Even the villagers changed, but not for the good.

Most everyone had placed the blame of the invasion, and also the death of their beloved Hokage, upon the shoulders of the visitors from the Sky Village. Whenever Musuko, Chichi, or Seirei had walked through areas with people in them, they could feel stares from everywhere, and sometimes even a hint of killer intent. A few times, but rarely, they even had things thrown at them, with people saying things like, 'It's your fault!', 'Leave our village in peace!', 'Go back where you came from!' The three of them took all of these without showing as much of a flinch. They just went by, not caring what others thought of them.

Then one day...

"Oi!" the three turned to see Naruto's favorite ramen shop, and it's owner Teuchi, waving at them to come on in. Seeing that others were staring at them loathingly, the sky ninjas took the owners offer of entrance.

Looking over the shinobi's shoulders, Teuchi saw the glares they were getting. With a long whistle, "That's quite alot of stares they got on you."

"You could say that again." Chichi replied.

"Reminds me of Naruto when he was a kid." Teuchi spoke as he made some ramen for them.

"Yeah," Musuko answered this time, "I feel bad about the kid. He really had a rough time here."

Teuchi, continuing with the ramen, "He told you guys about it, eh?"

"No." Teuchi stopped and turned around with a question on his face. Musuko tried to explain, "I'm really good at reading people."

"Ah, I see." the owner went back to his ramen making, "Most of the villagers thought he was a demon instead of a person. But not me. Me and my daughter pretty much treated him like family whenever he came here. Best customer I ever had, still is." He handed out three bowls of steaming ramen to the boys, "If stay for awhile, it's almost his meal time."

"I'd love to," Seirei announced, wiping his mouth with a napkin, "But I got to go someplace." Seirei pushed his bowl away, showing that it was empty. Within 3 seconds.

Seirei walked out of the shop, but not before hearing Teuchi saying, "Oh, someone special?" his voice sounded like he was hinting at something specific.

"You could say that if you want." Seirei said just before walking out of sight.

Once he left, Chichi and Musuko then started to eat their own bowls of ramen, but not quite as fast as their other teammate.

"Looks like I'm gonna win my bet." Chichi bragged to Musuko.

"No your not." Musuko said, trying to deny it. Both of them continued eating, trying to think of what to do for the day.

* * *

Seirei was found sitting on top of the Hokage Monument again, this time on the third's head, reading his little book he always carried with him. Once he was done reading, he placed the book back in his pouch, and headed towards a large boulder a ways behind him. He placed his hands on the stone and pushed it aside to reveal a hole in the ground. Seirei looked around to see if the coast was clear, and then jumped into the hole.

Within the hole, torches were lit in a domed room. The room had nothing in it aside from eight red doors along the sides of the room. Seirei turned to his left, and entered the door with the number six on it.

Opening the door, Seirei faced Misumi Tsurugi, Kabuto's stretchy teammate. Misumi was latched to a wall with bricks of lead on all his limbs and forehead, so he couldn't use his jutsus. The sound ninja saw his captor and glared at him.

"So..." Seirei started their conversation, "How's it been."

"...." Misumi didn't answer.

"Are we gonna have to go through the same thing we did two days ago, or can you just give me a little bit of info?" Seirei asked the prisoner, like he was a guest in his own home.

The sound ninja chuckled, "You think I'm gonna talk to some stupid little genin who got lucky in his matches? Yeah, right."

"Oh...If only I did have luck," he reached into his pocket and pulled out his book, "Then I'd probably not be reading this." Seirei placed the book back. "So tell me... what do you know about the very fascinating subject of, Curse Marks?"

"That, I'll never say to you. Never. Wait... what are you-AHHH!" Seirei slammed his fist into Misumi's left bicep, cracking the wall behind him and breaking the arm as well.

"You know what hurts more than a broken arm?" Seirei paused to hear an answer. None came. "Well, most people would say two broken arms." Seirei punches into the right arm, hearing Misumi scream again. "However, that isn't true. The thing that is worst, is breaking the same arm. Again and again." a second punch to the left arm, and Misumi let out a louder scream than before. "See? What did I tell you?" Misumi was biting his lip so hard now that it was dripping blood.

Seirei did another three punches to the sound ninjas left arm, asking about the Curse Marks between each one, but the ninja passed out from the pain before he could spill anything. Seirei gave a sigh and left the room.

Looking at the other seven doors, Seirei went over to the door with a three on it. Upon opening it, Seirei found one of Kankuro's puppets on a table. The puppet was taken apart and strewn across the table. Seirei picked up the head, facing it at a wall. Pulling his index finger, the puppet's mouth opened and a kunai shot out, hitting the wall. With a smile, the sky ninja placed the head back down on the table, and left the room.

"And now," Seirei was talking to himself, "For you." he walked over to the door that had the number one on it. Opening the door, Seirei popped his head in to see what was inside, "Comfy?"

* * *

Sasuke had gotten out of the hospital a few days ago, and was at his full strength as he was before he faced Chichi in the finals. He may have been alright physically, but he wasn't himself since the finals. The Uchiha continually sulked about his match with Chichi. To top it all off, he heard that an invasion had occured while he was knocked out by the sand and sound ninjas. Not only did he miss a chance to show his skills, but also that the Sky Ninja had become a major ally in the invasion and saved Konoha from any more distruction. All this, with Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura by their side, the three most pathetic and weakest shinobi in their entire class, in Sasuke's mind.

The raven haired shinobi was sitting on the dock, thinking about his match with Chichi. Going through it over and over about ten or fifteen times, Sasuke grew angrier with each one.

_'That Sky shinobi defeated my chidori! He didn't show any use of chakra, which meant he was just like Lee. But he was able to summon a creature from nowhere.' _he picked up a stone and threw it into the water, _'How did he get that power?'_

He stood up on the dock, looking into the distance.

_'I need to know.'_ the wind blew his hair, as he remained where he stood.

* * *

Back at the Ichiraku Ramen shop, Musuko was the only one of the three still at the stand. He was almost done with his noodles, when his student came barging in with a smile on his face.

"Right on schedule." Teuchi proclaimed, "As always."

"Give me the bowl-of-the-day, please." Naruto said gladly.

"Oh-ho, it's been a good day for you?" Teuchi asked.

"Yep!" Looking away from the ramen on the other side of the counter, Naruto spotted his latest sensei, "Musuko! I haven't seen you in a long time!"

"Same here." Musuko said just before eating up a noodle. The sky ninja signalled with his hand to have Naruto sit next to him, which he did.

Teuchi came back with a steaming bowl of ramen for his best customer, and as soon as he placed it in front of Naruto, the blonde's face was lost. Musuko stopped eating his own ramen and smiled as he watched Naruto eat his like a maniac.

"Well, I see you really do live on ramen." It looked like Naruto didn't hear him, as he was still gorging himself. "So what do you want to talk about Naruto? We can talk about anything: jutsus, kunai, women, toads, the weather, a second trainer, politics..." seeing that Naruto was still eating, "TOADS." putting heavy emphasis on the word, and saying it louder than before.

Naruto stopped in mid-eating and was looking at his white haired teacher, who was now smirking. Swallowing the food in his mouth, which happened to also sound like a gulp of fear, Naruto began stuttering.

"Wh-wha-what t-toad?"

"Hmm, I don't know. I think it may have been that large one with the dagger and pipe that we were...RIDING ON IT'S HEAD AND FIGHTING A MASSIVE TANUKI." major emphasis on the last half of his sentence, Musuko saw his student stunned and speechless. He turned back to his bowl of ramen and sipped down what was left in the bowl. Placing it down, "Okay, who are they, Naruto? Who is your second trainer?"

* * *

While two of the Sky Ninja were busy with their own thing, Chichi had been heading over to the Hyuuga Compound to see Hinata. She hadn't fully recovered from the attack Gaara did to her, so she couldn't train with Chichi as usual, but she was able to walk around and be her normal self.

In his hand, Chichi was carrying some sort of sab, along with a bag holding something for Hinata; a surprise.

"This should help her out." Looking at the sab, "She'll be up and running by tomorrow." Lifting the bag to head level, Chichi then spoke to the bag, "And you, you will make everything even better." Chichi poked the bag, which the bag started wriggling in response.

Walking along an empty road towards the Compound, Chichi had stopped in his tracks for some reason. He lowered his head and shook it in disappointment. Then with a sigh, "Are you going to follow me all the way to the compound, or are you two going to come out, and show yourselves?" Chichi turned to a dark alley to his left. As he did, the two followers also came out of the alley. Uchiha Sasuke, along with Hyuuga Neji. "You two, working together? Didn't see that coming."

"We have a common goal." Neji said.

"Can this wait. I gotta meet your cousin and give her somethings." he raised the bag and sab to show them. "So if you don't mind, I-"

"Where did you get your power?" Sasuke barged in.

Chichi smiled, and said gladly, "I trained. Something you should be doing instead of asking others how they got better."

"You and your other teammates managed to beat all of us easily. There's no way you three are just genins." Neji retorted.

"Ah," Chichi kept his smile, "But we are, Neji."

"Impossible," Neji responded, "You were able to cummon a creature without using hand signs."

"That's because they live here. They don't live in another world like your summoned beasts do. I can summon them anytime I want."

Sasuke grew angry, as Chichi didn't come right out with the answer he was looking for. He rushed over to the gray-haired genin and put Chich's back against a wall. "Quit dodging our question!" Sasuke said with a hint of threat, "Tell us how you got your power?"

The Sky Ninja's bag squirmed around once again, but Neji and Sasuke didn't notice. Chichi made a quiet shushing noice towards the bag, and it stopped moving.

"Sasuke, we agreed to no violence to get the answer." Neji came over to his partner, but Sasuke shoved him aside, keeping ahold of Chichi.

The Uchiha went to even more drastic measures by pulling out a kunai of his own and holding it up to Chichi's neck. "Now, tell us how?"

A small chuckle came from Chichi, which startled both Sasuke and Neji. "Tell me Sasuke, what was your life like as a child?"

Sasuke tightened his grip on the kunai, "What's it to you?"

"Well, it's kind of everything to me." Sasuke was bewildered, but did not show it to Chichi, as he continued, "You see, Musuko doesn't tell me anything about you guys. He wants me to find out myself. I know about Naruto, I probably know too much actually. How bout you? What was your childhood like." Sasuke didn't answer, but his grip did loosen on the kunai.

Finally, Sasuke's grip was loose enough that Chichi was able to walk away, "It must be some crappy childhood then, if you want power that badly. Talk to Seirei, he might help you out." walking a bit further, "That is, if you can find him." That was the last that he said before he disappeared behind another building.

The raven haired genin started off to find Seirei, but Neji was not following. Realizing this, Sasuke stopped.

"Aren't you coming?" the Uchiha asked.

Neji stayed where he was, "No, not if we're going to keep doing it like this. You continue on your road of violence, I will pursue this in my own way." with that, Neji leapt off to the rooftops. Sasuke was left alone.

Sasuke began talking to himself, "What's happened to Neji? From the matches, he was nothing but fate this and fate that. Now he's not even resorting to violence." Sasuke grabbed at his hair, "What's happening?! And why can't it happen to me?!"

_'Perfect.'_

Without thought, the Uchiha pulled out a kunai and did a full 180 degree turn upon hearing the voice. But when he turned around, there was no one there. Looking around, he shouted out, "Show yourself! Fight me like a real ninja." Sasuke turned his head in every direction he could to try to see the culprit, but the source of the voice was never found, as it didn't make another noise. "Where's Neji when I need him. He could find him with his Byakugan." Upon remembering Neji, and that there seemed to be no one around, Sasuke put away his kunai and slowly walked away from the site. Sasuke was determined to find the other two Sky Ninja, and find out how they got their power.

* * *

"Comfy?" Seirei asked as he poked his head through the door with a smile. The person inside the room did not respond, so the shinobi walked in, "Oh come on, Temari. You can't tell me you're not at all comfortable." the wind mistress was on a matress at the end of the room sitting up on it.

"It could be better, if I wasn't chained down like a dog." Temari lifted her right hand to show in was incased in a metal ball and chained to the wall behind her. There was a chair sitting in front of her, whilch was where Seirei gladly took a seat while still smiling, "You could have at least made it a ring around my wrist."

"I could also take away that matress too." Seirei replied. Temari raised up her hands, signalling that how she was was fine for her. "That's good to know."

"But why do you have to lock me up in this place?" The sand kunoichi asked.

"I did it for a few reasons. One, you're an enemy of Konoha thanks to the Sand/Sound Invasion awhile back. If they found you, you would then be tortured for information, since you're the Kage's daughter and all. However, since I"m am not a member of Konoha, I don't need to turn you in or torture you."

"I heard someone screaming awhile back, Seirei." Temari argued.

"They were being tortured because they were being stubborn about spilling their guts. I just hope that _you _are not so stubborn in giving me want I want to know." Temari now had a smile on her face. "What's the smile for?" Seirei asked.

"Oh I'll give you what you want, but you'll have to do one thing for me." Seirei quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

"I'm not letting you out if that's what you're thinking." The wind mistress ignored his comment and instead signalled him over with her free hand. Seirei came over with and interested look on his face and was leaning towards her, Temari moved her head so that he mouth was right next to his ear.

And she whispered, "Kiss me." Seirei's face turned from interested to stone as he stood up and turned away. Temari was stunned by the sudden rejection, she understood that her request was a bit sudden, but she expected a different reaction than this.

"Please, tell me you're joking." Seirei asked with his back still turned to Temari.

"What reason do I have to joke?"

"Shinobi aren't supposed to have those feelings."

"Who said?"

"I did." Seirei was heading for the door, when he was stopped by Temari's shouting.

"Why won't you give me a chance?" Seirei stopped, "You're the only one who has even shown any respect for me. After sparing my life twice, why are you rejecting me now?"

Coldly, "Because I no longer have that emotion."

"Why? Tell me why you can't show feelings for me."

"I can't tell you." Seirei said, in a softer tone.

"Why?" Seirei ignored Temari and removed his sword from his back, "Why can't you tell me?" tears were forming in her eyes, "Please, I've already opened up to you, there's no turning back for me." She lowered her head so Seirei would see her crying. The sky ninja grabbed onto the bottom part of his shirt. Temari said in a whisper, "Why won't you return my feelings?"

"Because, Temari," she looked up at Seirei, and was shocked at whatshe saw, "I have to show you." All over his back were small scars, "I have to show you why I've lost those feelings." the scars travelled over every part of his body that had been covered by his shirt, it even looked that the scars went down to his legs and mid-section. Seirei turned around to face Temari, only to show even more scars on his body.

Temari was stuttering, she had no idea what to say, too many things were running through her head.

"10,263." Seirei stated, "There are 10,263 marks on my body. Each one to represent a resident of my village. Man, woman, and child." the scarred boy went silent, trying to let it all sink in for Temari.

Mouth gaping, Temari tried to utter some words, "B-but...wh-wha...ho-how?"

Seirei stopped her stutters, taking a seat in the chair once again. He put his hands together and let out a small sigh, both of them knew, that this was going to be a long story.

"Five years ago, I was eight. Our village was massive, filled with over ten thousand people, clearly. The village was by far the most powerful and wealthiest village in our nation, or any other for that matter. It had been years since any sort of violent thing happened to our village since the war.

"One day, I was walking with my father in the market. I saw a stand that interested me, but my father was heading the other way, so we got seperated. When I turned around after visiting the stand, he was gone. I looked around for him, but it was so crowded that I couldn't find him. Running around, I cried out for my father, and then, I ran into something. Looking up it was a figure covered in black clothing with a large hood over their head, it smelled of something strange, but I couldn't pin the scent to anything. The figure in black seemed to look down at me, it knelt down to me, and it spoke. 'You seem lost boy. Where are your parents?' I shrugged my shoulders, 'Guess you shouldn't have ventured off, huh?', I shook my head. The figure's arm stretched out towards me, and out from the sleeve came a hand covered in bandages. In the figures hand, was a book, it then said, 'Poor judgement will lead to terrible suffering. Take this book. When you're able to read it, it will give you a greater sense of judgement.' I grabbed onto the book and opened it to view the pages. All I could see were scribbles and odd markings, but when I looked into it, it gave me a strange feeling. Like, it was telling me to never let it go if I value my life. When I looked up, the figure in black was gone, and in his place, was my father. My father told me that he got scared and told me never to run off like that again. Sadly, I'd never even have that chance.

"A week later, my mother, father, three sisters, and brother, were eating our dinner. All of a sudden, the earth shook underneath us, then a giant boom was heard in the distance. My father ran up to his room and grabbed a sword hidden behind his desk. He told us to stay where we were, and he exited the house, along with other men who had weapons of their own, running towards the source of the attack. We finally got information as to what was happening a few minutes later. A group of mysterious shinobi had appeared from nowhere and began attacking the village. Little to no causualties were reported so far, and the number of enemy shinobi was about ten, so either they were terribly stupid to attack our village, or incredibly strong.

"With my family, we waited in safety. After awhile, screams could be heard, as well as the sounds of metal clashing with metal, roars, and slicing noises. The sounds became louder and louder as they neared our house. But before it could reach the house, my father came bursting through the door. He had suffered many cuts on his arms and torso, none too severe. He was heaving by the time he reached us, and when he did, a blade pierced his chest from behind. The blood from my father fell onto my clothes. My father was the first person I saw die, and he wouldn't be my last.

"As he fell to the floor, a man with silver hair, eyes, and even face markings stood erect with two swords in the shape of scythes in each hand. One was tipped with blood. He called to someone outside, I forgot their name, and they came in. It was a girl with black hair and red mixed into it. It looked like she used blood as a shampoo. Both of them had on the same clothing, a black robe with red and white bandages at the elbows and waist. They both looked at me, and they both smiled. The smile...made me relax a bit, but also, scared me to death. My mother got up to protect us, but she was easily knocked out by the hilt of the man's blade. Leaving only me, as the eldest to protect them. I failed as well and was knocked out, but while I was on the ground, before I saw blackness, I heard something about a book and that I was the boy with it.

"When I rose to. I was tied to a chair with both chains and ropes, to make sure I couldn't escape. I looked around and saw that I was in a dark room with two doors, and one opening in the floor. There was also another chair in front of me. There was nothing else, I thought I was going to be left here to die, or until I go insane. Then, someone entered into the room. It was the man who gave me the book the week before. He walked over to me, still with his hood hiding his head. Without saying a word, he walked behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. The hands were ice cold, but somehow, I sense of warmth as well. The figure croutched down so his face was at my level, then he said, 'Now, lets give you that judgement.' The figure then waved its hand towards the door he entered from. The door opened, and a man in the same black cloak as the ones who knocked me out, appeared from the doorway, and behind him....was....my mother. My mother was writhing around, but she could not escape her bondings, and she could not scream because they had gagged her.

"They placed her in the chair infront of me, and our eyes met. We both reached for each other, both with tears in our eyes, for we could not reach the other. What happened next either happened so fast, or so terribly slow, I cannot remember, there were so many. I heard the noise of a weapon being drawn, a small blade appeared in the cloaked man's hand behind my mother, she didn't see it or hear, she was too focused on me. But she did notice it when the blade stabbed through her right arm. She screamed in pain, muffled by the gag in her mouth. I asked them to stop, to leave her alone, I screamed everything that I could to have them stop. My pleas fell on deaf ears as they continued to do the same thing over and over again to my mother, until she died in the chair. Tears were pouring from my eyes like fountains, wishing that they heard my pleas, wishing that I could have done something to stop it. I then felt a pain in my body. I turned around to see that the figure behind had stabbed me with a kunai, and then healed the wound, but only enough so that it would be a perminant scar on me. It was a small cut, and the first of many I was to recieve. After that, they cut her from the chair, and threw her into the opening in the floor, and the door once again opened, this time, it was my brother. They did the same thing to him, except he died sooner than my mother did, probably because he was much younger...too young. After him, my three sisters, I watched each one of them die right before, and for none of them could I help, just watched. I was doomed, doomed to watch them die, and to watch even more die.

"One by one, every inhabitant of my village was brought into that little room, bound and gagged, placed in the chair in front of me, some crying to me to save them. At least, that's what I thought they were saying. Each one died slowly and painfully, then placed into the opening in the floor. It must have been deep, because I never saw the level of bodies reach the top. 10,263 people were thrown into that hole. Each one died, and with each one, I recieved a scar on every part of my back, front, sides, almost my entire body.

"Finally, the last one died and was thrown into the pit. My tears were dried up from crying through the entire ordeal. Then the figure's hand touched my shoulder once more, I looked forward to see the book that the figure gave me a week ago. It was opened, and when I looked into it, I could understand what was written in the book." Seirei pulled out the book from his back pocket, the one he also read, "When they found me, the men who killed all those people were long gone. They said I, as well as the entire village, had been missing for almost two and a half weeks. That's how long it took them to kill my village, and not once did I sleep through it. All they found on me was the clothes on my back, and this book in my hands right now." He leaned back into his chair, nearing the end, "I lost everyone I knew; friends, family, loved ones, everyone that meant something to me. With them, my feelings for others had died, I wish for no one to be with me, because they will then share the same fate as my village did." With that, the shinobi stood up from his seat, all Temari did was watch him in silence as he picked his sword back up, and placed his sword on his back. "That's why I don't have that emotion, or any others relating to that. When you see me smile, that is a front, to make sure others aren't troubled when they are near me. Everyday, I remember, I can still hear the screams on thousands in pain where ever I am." He opened the door, "I'll leave you alone. To understand."

Seirei left the room. Temari was stunned to say the least. She had just heard such a painful story, that she didn't know how to even react to it. Whether to cry, feel sorrow for Seirei, thinking on his last words to her, envision what his childhood was even like, she had no idea what to do. But thoughout the remainder of the day, she did all of them.

* * *

**Seirei was asked to open up, and so he did. What will happen to Temari, now that she knows of his cruel past? What will happen when Musuko and Jiriaya meet? And what will happen to Sasuke? What was the voice that he heard? Only will be found out if I keep writing, and you all keep reading.**

**A/N:I honestly didn't expect to end it this shortly, but after reading through Seirei's story once again, I just had to. It makes a great ending to the chapter, and hopefully make you guys think what could be the other sky ninja's past.**

**This chapter is done, and like that, I am out like a straight guy in a gay bar........................................................................not meant to be offensive :)**


	13. Rising Sun

Chapter 13 of Sky Ninja. Up and running!

I have been starting to go over my previous chapters and editing some things to help understand the story better, or make it easier to read. I have also added more detail to my OC's and will be doing so with other OC's in the future. Right now it will be those three sky ninjas for awhile.

For those who don't want to go back to the beginning to get a description of Musuko, Chichi, or Seirei:

Musuko: With his short white hair and facial features, the boy appeared to be in his early teens. A headband with an unknown symbol, five curved lines merging in the center, was placed on the boy's forehead just above his blue eyes. He was wearing a gray vest with white trimming along it, and a black undershirt beneath it. His gray pants were padded along the shins and outer thigh areas and over his black shinobi sandals, his weapons pouch being located on his right hip. Two strange, dark blue, cylindrical, mechanisms were attached to his arms, each having a hole at the front of them, above the hands.

Chichi: Another boy about the same age as the one before. Instead of white like the one before, this green eyed boy had gray hair falling down to in between his shoulders with his headband placed on his forehead as well. His facial features were more beastly than the previous person's, but still retained a humane sense. He had displayed the same kind of vest and undershirt, but with shoulder pads and a darker shade of gray. The black pants went down to his ankles, but had no guards or pads, or even a weapons pouch for that matter. Instead, on his left shoulder pad were a large assortment of kunai along piece of string going down his back. The kunai all had several holes placed around their handles at random while having a slitted hole at the ends.

Seirei: Yet another boy the same age as the others. His jet black hair, matching his cold eyes, flowed down below his hips. His headband also on his forehead, but appeared to be more loose than the other two. Not sharing a matching vest like his two companions, the boy only had on a black undershirt, sleeves running down to his elbow, with white trimming. He possessed a weapons pouch at the left side of his back an another at his right thigh, the one on the back being more rectangular. Strapped onto the boys back, was held a large sword at about five feet in length with a light blue ball at the base. A gap in the middle of the blade extended from its tip to the blue ball. An strange aura could be sensed around the figure.

And now, on with this chapter.

* * *

On top of the Hokage Monument, the massive boulder covering the entrance to Seirei's torture chambers was moved back over top of the hole by the black haired shinobi himself. He had just left the blonde sand ninja, Temari stunned and speechless with his childhood story of how he came to be. He stood where he was for awhile, thinking if what he had just done was a wise thing to do or not.

'What am I doing?' The sky ninja asked himself,leaning his head and arm against the massive boulder 'Keep it together Seirei, just think about the mission. No distractions. You can't have someone like that, not again.' In anger, he punched the boulder in front of him, creating a series of cracks and breaks around the area of impact. With the boulder damaged slightly, Seirei left without saying, or thinking of, another word.

* * *

Back with Temari, still chained in the room, she had been left stunned and speechless (as said before). To think that what he had just said to her was what happened to him at such a young age. So much was running through her head: Why would something that terrible happen? Why was he left alive and not killed like the rest? Why did he keep himself alive? Why? Why? Why? She had so many questions considering what Seirei told her about his life, and none of those would be answered by him. She pulled her legs into her and rested her head on her knees, she had alot of thinking to do until the sky ninja would return to her room.

'How could such a terrible thing happen? I've heard something like this happening to the Uchiha's, but not to that extent. Uchiha was a clan, not an entire village! I wonder what keeps him going. He has no one left from his childhood. If it were me, I'd have ended my life there and then when they freed me. But Seirei, he is still walking, and more importantly, he is the very thing that destroyed his village; a shinobi.' Temari lied down on the matress in her cell and tried to go to sleep. 'I just wish...' a tear ran down her face before closing them, 'I just wish he didn't happen to him.'

Naruto and Musuko had been walking down the streets for awhile now, neither one saying much to the other. Naruto was too worried that Musuko might find out who his second sensei was, and Musuko was just waiting for his answer from Naruto.

Finally, Naruto spoke, "Are you mad Musuko-sensei?" said shinobi turned and looked at him. He responded, "Yes and no."

"It's just that I thought that my other sensei would teach me some cool things, as you saw with our fight with Gaara." Naruto tried to explain.

"And that's why I'm not mad at you. I do know alot, but a true sensei knows alot more. But what really makes me mad, is that you took another sensei without telling me and hoping that I wouldn't find out about it. That shows that you have no trust in me saying that I'm alright with it, and that you have no faith that I will actually teach you something worthwhile. The best ninja doesn't become that way in one day. They have to train their butts off and work until they are exhausted, then keep going after that. You understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," replied Naruto, "I'm sorry for not telling you, sensei." Looking over at Musuko, "You know, you talk a whole lot like an adult than you do for someone who is the same age as me."

Musuko smiled at his student's comment, "Yeah, I get that alot. I don't like it either." He moved his head upward to look at the sky, looking like he was expecting something to fly by, nothing did though. When he lowered his head again, "Now then, Naruto, let's go find you other sensei."

* * *

We find Sasuke traveling around the village in search of either Musuko or Seirei, wanting to find out how these sky ninja had become so skilled in their individual arts. If he could just find out how one person did it, that was all he would need. The Uchiha was confident enough that he could further improve on the sky ninjas' abilities and surpass them all, and take his revenge on his brother. Nothing was going to stop him from getting what he wanted, not even the Hokage, if he was still alive.

From rooftop to rooftop he leapt in search of the two sky ninja. Finally, he came up with a possible location that they could have been at. Sasuke remembered that Naruto had fought with the shinobi during the invasion. They could be with the blonde dobe right this moment. It was still Naruto's, "Ramen Time," so if Sasuke was to go to the Ichiraku Ramen Stand, he could find Naruto, and if he found Naruto, there was a possiblity that he would find the sky ninjas. Without another moments thought, Sasuke made a sharp turn to the right and made his way to the Ramen Stand.

In a short while, the raven haired shinobi landed down next to the Ramen Stand's entrance and walked in, seeing Teuchi serving a customer a steaming bowl of ramen, but no Naruto could be found anywhere inside.

Just then, Teuchi recognized the new comer and waved at him, "Hey Sasuke, what brings you here? It's rare to see you here alone."

"I'm looking for Naruto." Sasuke explained his presence, "Has he shown up yet?"

Teuchi replied with a smile, "Yep, he just left a few minutes ago. Along with that new friend of his. What was his name now..." trying to recall his name, Teuchi sadly ignores the fact that their is some ramen burning behind him.

"Um...sir?" Sasuke pointed at the smoke behind the ramen chef, hoping Teuchi would notice.

"Give me a moment, I'll find out. It begins with an M, I know that for sure." the chef begins fiddling with a spoon, still unaware of burning ramen.

"Sir!" Sasuke yelled this time, "There's something burning behind you!"

Teuchi looked behind him, seeing the smoke coming out of the pot. With fright, he removed the pot from stove and began waving it around, finally diminishing the smoke. "Thanks alot boy!" Teuchi said with relief, followed by a sigh, "Now I have to make a whole other bowl. But the good news is that my store wasn't burnt down!" Teuchi suddenly snapped his fingers and had the face of someone who had just discovered something, "That's it!"

"What's it?" Sasuke asked, confused by the outburst.

"The boy's name who was with Naruto, it was Musuko." Sasuke's eyes widened at the chef's answer, one of the Sky Ninja, they were actually here!

"Which way did they go?" Questioning more aggresively than he was eager.

Teuchi in the direction the two went off in, Sasuke bowed his head and then sped out of the stand. "Come again soon," Teuchi called out to the Uchiha, "Maybe stay and have some ramen." But by then, Sasuke was long gone.

* * *

At the Hyuuga Compound, Chichi had just arrived with his things, asking the entrance guard if Hinata was still in bed. The guard had replied that the heiress was doing better, she had been starting to walk, but was still in no condition to do physical activities, let alone fight. Chichi thanked the guard for the information and headed on into the compound.

The gray haired shinobi went up to Hinata's bedroom door, about to knock on it, when someone spoke to Chichi's left. "Hello again, Chichi."

Turning to his left, Chichi smiled, seeing who it was. "Hello again Neji." Looking past the Hyuuga, "Doesn't seem that Sasuke came with you this time."

"Like I said before, we both had common goals." Neji replied, "Only he wanted the answer more than me."

"In the end, you still want the answer." Chichi questioned. Neji nodded in reply, and Chichi continued, "What I have been able to do is something you just can learn in an instant, you can't even learn it in a year. Your friend Rock Lee knows just what I'm talking about. I won't go into a speech a youth and flames, thank goodness." letting out a small chuckle, he continued, "However, I will tell you this, you have planted you seed already, there is no changing where it landed, but if you tend to it long enough and with care, that seed will become a tree." Chichi turned back towards Hinata's room, "Think about that, you're smart enough to find out what that should mean." And with that, Chichi entered into Hinata's room with his things.

Closing the door behind him, Chichi felt a certain Hyuuga's arms wrap around behind him.

"You're slipping." Hinata said, with a smile.

"Oh, am I?" Hinata heard Chichi's voice, but it was behind her. Looking at her bed, she saw the gray haired shinobi sitting there waving with a smile on his face. Turning back around, Hinata found that she was now grabbing onto one of her pillows instead.

With a defeated smile, Hinata threw the pillow playfully at her visitor. "I'll get you eventually." The Hyuuga heiress then started towards her bed, "What brings you here anyways? I wasn't expecting you to come today."

"Well," Chichi started off, "I have two reasons. Both being gifts to you." Chichi put his hands behind his back, and brought his left hand first, holding a thin circular case. Hinata opened it to reveal a sort of medical sauve. "That is medicine for you, made out of a collection of various plants and other things. Put that on your chakra points and by tomorrow you should be as good as ever."

Hinata smiled at the boy and gave himi a hug for the gift. "You just want me all to yourself, don't you?" She said teasing.

"That's just for you to get better." Chichi pulled out his right hand, "This is your real present." In his hand was the sack he had been carrying around.

"What's in it?" The Hyuuga asked as she was given the sack. Though when she asked, the bag started moving about. Wondering what it was, she opened the bag and peered inside. At first, all she saw was a small green sparkle, and then....

MAMA!

EEP!

Hinata fell backwards onto her bed as she was shocked as something had came out and grabbed her face. She started feeling relaxed when the thing felt like it was loosening it's grip, confused when the thing said 'Mama' again, and angry when she saw Chichi on the bed trying his best not to laugh.

Chichi, trying to hold in his laughter still, "I-I'm so s-sorry. *snicker* I- I didn't think it was going to be that bad. Here, let me help you with that." The sky ninja grabbed onto the thing on Hinata's face lightly, slowly pulling it off. Then it started again, this time...

PAPA!

AH!

The thing grabbed onto Chichi's face. "Should have seen that coming." Chichi retorted, shrugging his shoulders.

Now that it wasn't on Hinata's face, she could see clearly what the green thing was. As a matter of fact, it wasn't green at all, it was a clearish color. The creature had a serpentine body, but with two spider leg appendages near it's head, which it was using to grip Chichi's face. The tail was a sharpened point and swinging around carelessly, showing that it was happy. It had opal colored eyes, but with no signs of pupils or any other sort of second color. Also, it seemed that it's entire body was made out of pure diamond crystalline.

"What is that thing?" Hinata asked, as Chichi gently removed the creature from his face, "It looks like a snakey lobster."

"This, my dear Hinata," The gray haired shinobi began explaining, as he let the creature crawl around his hands, "This is a Diamonite. Very hard to find, but they live where ever there are diamonds. They are so hard to find as they live most of their lives dormant in the shape of actual diamonds, people kill these creatures when making diamond jewelry and such due to this. When a diamonite awakens it goes through an, 'Instant Imprint'. When this happens, the first male and female it sees becomes its parents and will remain ever loyal to them. If you are ever able to find one, it is best to keep it inside a bag so that you can choose who the mother and father will be to it. So," Chichi was interrupted by Hinata grabbing his hands, which allowed the diamonite creature to crawl onto her hands.

"So," Hinata started, "You wanted this to be our first child?" The Hyuuga looked at the small creature on her hand, as the thing started snuggling with her index finger.

"I know," Chichi lowered his head, "It was a stupid idea, but," raising his head, but with a serious face on this time, "I'm not gonna be here forever. You know that, right?" Hinata took her attention off the diamonite and was now listening to her friend. "The reason I'm still here after the Chunin Exams, is because I'm on a mission. And sadly, when that mission comes to an end, is when I have to leave, and return to my home village."

Hinata lowered her head, sadness in her eyes, "I-I....I guess I did know this would happen. I just....I just never wanted it to happen. So I shoved it out of my mind." Now petting the diamonite, "I just wish you lived here, and not somewhere else."

Chichi grabbed hold of the Hyuuga's hands, now with a smile, but still in a serious manner, "That's why I got you the necklace, and this little guy here. These are things I gave you, so you could have something to remember me by, and to represent a promise to you." He moved his head closer to Hinata's as he whispered the next words, "I will come back, no matter what. It may take me a year, two years, five, or even twenty. But I promise you, that I will come back." He then proceeded to kiss the lovely young lady in front of him, which Hinata gladly returned.

"Don't worry," Hinata said, between kisses, "As long as you promise," "I will wait for you here." "Me, and Nintai too."

"Nintai?" Chichi asked, and sadly stopping the 'kissing session'.

The Hyuuga nodded, "That's what I'm gonna name her."

"Her?" Chichi once again.

"Well, I don't know exactly what her gender is, but I want her to be a girl." She said as she allowed Nintai, the diamonite, to crawl up and down her arm.

Chichi just smiled and accepted what Hinata said. "Alright, she'll be called Nintai. I like it, means 'patience', so that whenever you look at her,"

"I will always know that you'll come back to me," Hinata finished his sentence, "No matter what."

* * *

Sasuke had been running down the center of the road that Teuchi pointed to, hoping to catch up with Naruto and Musuko. He wanted that power, the power that those three sky ninja had. With it, Sasuke could be one large step closer to killing his brother. However, after sprinting down the one road for so long, without even meeting up with the two, Sasuke decided to ask someone if they had seen them pass by.

The Uchiha saw a red-headed teen around his age about to enter a clothing store. "Hey, you in the red hair." Sasuke shouted to the young boy. The boy turned around and faced Sasuke, which made him jump back a step, "Wait...you can't be." Sasuke took a fighting stance against the boy, "I didn't recognize you without your, 'attire', but you aren't going to leave this village now that I've found you, Gaara."

Gaara indeed had changed his clothing and his appearance as well. Gaara was wearing his blood red shirt, but with an open pale green pop collared jacket over it and green shinobi pants, but what really made him not stick was the fact that his gourd wasn't strapped on his back, since it was destroyed in his previous fight with Naruto and Musuko, and his shinobi headband was flipped upside-down and strapped around his right sleeve. His hair was slightly longer than usual and so the bangs hung down and blocked his 'love' mark on his forehead. The only thing that truely stood out was his eyes which still showed his insomnia. Still, Sasuke was more surprised by the loss of gourd, and that Gaara's facial expression was that of a happy, non-psycho, smile.

"Well, well, well." Gaara said while adjusting his jacket, "Didn't expect to bump into you." The sand ninja stepped toward Sasuke, making him step back again and move his hand to his weapons pouch. Gaara noticed this and stopped. He raised his hands, "Don't be so tense, man." his smile grew more friendly, "I'm just a common person right now, I don't want to fight, and I don't plan on to either. I'm just looking for someone right now."

Sasuke wasn't convinced, and still had his hand on his pouch, "Who are you looking for exactly?" 'He doesn't have his gourd, which means that his sand abilities are useless. Although, he may be carrying some weapons on his person, waiting for a chance to strike. I must be careful.'

"I'm looking for a ninja," Gaara said as he lowered his hands, "Perhaps you know of him." His hands went into his coat pockets.

With that move, Sasuke snatched two shuriken from his pouch and threw them at Gaara's face, he wanted to stop the sand ninja before Gaara could attack him. As the shuriken flew, the red haired ninja remained still, watching the shuriken come at him. Suddenly, sand shot out from Gaara's collar and surrounded the bottom half of his face, and took the blows from the shurikens instead of his own face. Sasuke was surprised that Gaara was able to defend without his gourd anymore.

"Surprised aren't you?" Gaara asked his opponent, "I was surprised too when I was beaten, and then left to live." The sand around his face receeded back into his jacket, and the shuriken fell to his feet, "No one came after me, so I was able to escape. I knew that my original appearance would send me straight into your village's prison, so I changed quickly and took another name, while resting in a hotel. I looked for my brother and sister after that, Kankuro being in prison, while I still do not know where Temari is. After three days search, a box was found in my room with a letter saying:

Sorry for the gourd, this should do better. And if anyone asks how or why, answer: "A magician never reveals his secrets" -A ninja you know

"Inside, I found the answer to my sand problem." Sand started to flow out of his jacket again, "Care to try attacking me again? Or do you want to help me find him?"

"Find who?" Sasuke asked, hating the fact he was currently beat, and the fact that he didn't want to waste his chakra against Gaara.

"Why, it's the ninja I know, Musuko."

Sasuke was in a spot of luck, not only was Gaara looking for the same person as he was, but Gaara was also forming a minor alliance with him. No doubt about it that together, they would find out how to get the sky ninjas' power. With that in mind, Sasuke left his attack position.

"Alright," The Uchiha said with a smirk, "Let's go." The two shinobi then walked side by side down the road.

* * *

"He should be right here."

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah, I know it's pitiful."

"You were actually taught those things by that guy?"

"Again, yeah, I know it's pitiful."

"Well, what should we do first?"

"Hmm, I always prefered just sending him down there."

"Wow, does he do anything to you?"

"Not until he is out of his casts, but unitl then he teaches me."

"So would you like the honors?"

"Oh no, by all means, this would be your first time, go right ahead."

"Alright, if you say so."

Jiriaya, who had been seated up on a cliff overlooking the hot springs, had heard something land behind him, and then the piece of cliff that he was sitting on crumbled away and sent him flying down into the female springs.

What had happened was that Naruto lead Musuko to areas where Jiriaya could have been found. Luckily, they found him on the first try. As they started talking, while still keeping distance from the sanin, Musuko was given the chance to help Jiriaya get a closer look for his 'research'. By shooting two senbon needles into the ground behind the pervy sage, the overlook crumbled away and Jiriaya fell down to his doom.

The two genin looked down from the cliff and saw bits and parts of Naruto's sensei, as the rest was being beaten up by women who covered in towels.

"Funny everytime."

"I can see why you didn't want me to find out about him."

"Yeah, and the weirdest part is, he's the one who writes the books that Kakashi-sensei reads."

"Really?! That's just not right."

"Tell me about it, but he's a good teacher when it comes down to it."

"I'll take your word for that." "You want to see him in the infirmary, or wait to he gets released."

"Let's head to the hospital, that way we can still have some fun with him."

"You know, you're kinda sadistic."

"Just to the pervy sage. He deserves what I give him."

* * *

Seirei has been walking around the forested part of the village, where things were much more quiet than the streets. He needed to think, and other people would just get in the way.

While he was walking, he found a little rabbit. The poor thing was caught in a trap, no doubt he'd be tomorrow's lunch if the little rabbit was found. Seirei leaned down to the rabbit, seeing its leg was bleeding, it was caught in the trap and what made the rabbit unable to escape.

"You poor little thing." Seirei reached into his pocket, and pulled out both a kunai and his book. He opened the book and opened up to a page near the end, then after closing it, he placed the book away and used his kunai to pry open the rabbit trap. The rabbit limped out, with its leg still wounded from the trap, it couldn't move as fast as it should. Seirei just looked down at the limping rabbit, saying, "Guess it wasn't your time yet." The rabbit sat there and watched Seirei, Seirei in return knelt down to the rabbit.

The Sky Ninja took a look at the animal's wounded leg, "I don't think this will heal anytime soon, little guy." the rabbit didn't respond, "That right there is probably a fate worst than death for an animal like you. Unable to run, unable to move, you'd be a sitting duck, and eventually something's gonna pick you up for a meal. You probably don't have any family either. No female would want to be with you now, even if the wound healed. No one would to even keep you as a pet. Honestly, you're probably better off dead." He took out his kunai once more, "Don't worry, this will only hurt for a second, little guy. After that, you can finally meet with everyone you know."

The kunai came down, but stopped before reaching the rabbit's body. Seirei heard a rustling in the bushes next to him. When he looked over, another rabbit came hopping along. It first sniffed the air, then continued forward to where the injured rabbit was sitting. The two looked at each other, both noses twitching.

Seirei saw the two, "So this rabbit your girl, huh?" The injured rabbit began to move around, "Oh? She's a girl you're trying to impress?" the rabbit continued to hop around, then it landed hard on its bad leg and fell to the ground. The black haired ninja sighed, "Well it was worth a shot. Told you you weren't going to get a mate with that leg." but the rabbit got back up and continued to hop. "Come on man, spare yourself. You got nothing else to live for, why are you still trying?" Seirei saw the rabbit fall once again, but then get right back up and continued to court the female rabbit. "Why are you still trying to live? There's nothing," his voice was raising at the rabbit, but the rabbit kept going, "nothing!" Seirei's kunai landed right inbetween the girl and boy rabbit, sending them running into two different directions. Seirei went over to his kunai to pick it up, as he did, he saw the two rabbits further away, the boy rabbit still hopping around.

"Why do you still try?" Seirei sat down, as he watched that the rabbit stopped hopping, and the female went over to the male rabbit. Both began to rub the other's nose. "What? He got her? With that hinderance? How? Why?"

After awhile Seirei finally came to a conclusion, "The little guy had something to live for: A girl, a home, a family." The Sky Ninja stood up, with a smirk on his face. "Thanks little guy. Now I know why I'm alive." He watched the rabbit as he went around to the other side of the female rabbit and-

"Oh, sweet Kami! Could have at least kept the mood up a litte longer than that man?"

* * *

Mususko and Naruto were on their way to the hospital, following the injured Jiriaya from a safe distance. They knew they'd have to wait awhile to enter the hospital to go visit the pervy sage, but it's always good to wait every now and then. Musuko said to Naruto that that is what his sensei told him beforehand.

"Who is your sensei again?" Naruto asked as they walked down the street.

Musuko gladly answered, "She's the Kage of our village."

Naruto was stunned for a second, "So that means; you have a chance at becoming the Kage?"

"Yep. However, I don't plan on being it, not on my own."

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked.

The white haired ninja answered, "I'd only become the Kuukage if my brothers were also in the same position. We work best together."

The blonde shinobi placed a finger on his chin, "You know, now that I think about it, I have never seen you guys fight together."

"Don't worry Naruto, if we ever get into a fight again, we probably will. You'll be the first to see it."

With a grin, "I can't wait to see it."

Naruto then started to sniff the air, he smelled something familiar to him.

"You smell it too?" Musuko asked, "She's been following us for a few blocks now."

Musuko's student turned his head, "You mean, her?" Musuko nodded, "If she's following us, then what does she want?"

"What every ninja wants when they're following someone: Information." With that, Musuko disappeared, and Naruto ran quickly into a nearby alley.

The mysterious girl looked in the direction of Naruto, as he was the only she saw escape, and so ran down the same alley. She knew that her cover was blown, so their was no need to hide anymore.

She came running into the alley, only to find Naruto standing at a dead end, with a grin. "Hey Sakura, how are things going?"

The pink haired kunoichi stood at her end of the alley, staring down Naruto, "Where is he?"

"Who?" Naruto said while shrugging his shoulders, "There's just me and the garbage here."

Sakura's fist began to clench, "You know exactly who I'm talking about. Where is Musuko."

"Why do you need to talk to him?" Naruto asked his own question.

"It's none of your business, I didn't even think you'd be with him and I found you two."

With a sigh, Naruto shook his head, "Fine, I'll tell you where he went off to." Sakura waited for the answer, but what she got was the blonde signaling her to come closer.

Agreeing with his request, she went halfway into the alleyway, not wanting to get too close to the trash, and especially the garbage.

"Okay," Sakura, slowly losing her patience with Naruto, "Where is he?"

"He went to go get some ramen for the three of us."

"What?!"

"Got it!" Sakura turned around to see Musuko carrying three bowls of ramen, two small and one large. "Hope you guys like chicken!" Musuko started handing out the bowls, Naruto eagerly grabbing the largest of the three. As the three received their meals, Musuko said to Naruto, "You can go now. Enjoy some more ramen, it's all waiting at the stand." Naruto gave a big grin, and ran off to his ramen heaven.

Sakura and Musuko were left alone in the alleyway with their ramen. Musuko started eating, but Sakura just played around with it, as she looked at the sky ninja in front of her with a stern look. Soon enough, Musuko also noticed the look she was giving.

"What's with the stern look?" Musuko asked.

Sakura started her explanation, "It's been over a week since we last saw each other."

"You mean when we fought Gaara?" Musuko said while having ramen in his mouth.

"Yeah, Gaara, that was also the time when you said," she stopped playing with her ramen, "When you said I needed to find love." Musuko stopped eating, and looked up from his bowl, "I...I don't know, but...I don't think I know what you mean."

With a smile, Musuko lowered his bowl, and began talking to Sakura eye to eye, "You don't know what I mean? Or you don't know what love is?" Sakura didn't answer, but he saw it on her face, "You really don't love Sasuke, do you?" she still didn't answer, but the answer showed on her face again, "Thought so. Still, you don't need to love someone like that in order to fight. You don't really even need love to tell the truth."

"Then why did you tell me to find love?" Sakura asked, confused and angry that Musuko lied to her.

"You don't need love, but you do need reason." "You see Sakura, a ninja can have the reputation of winning thousands of battles, but if he fights against a nameless ninja who is fighting to defend say his land, while the famous ninja is just there to fight, that nameless ninja is going to win every single time. That nameless ninja wins because he has a reason to fight, he knows that he is giving his all to fulfill that reason, and he won't stop until it is fulfilled or until he's dead. The reason doesn't have to be defending something, or to find answers, or to simply survive. As long as that reason is what keeps you fighting, and always getting up, you'll win." He took a bite into his ramen, as he let what he said sink into Sakura's mind. Musuko could clearly see, that the girl in front of him was contemplating everything he told her, and before she could speak, Musuko asked, "So," This made Sakura come out of her thinking, "What is your reason? Is it to be with someone? Is it revenge? Or love? Or something else?" Musuko drank what was left in his bowl, meanwhile Sakura still hadn't touched hers at all. "I leave you with that to think about." then he turned around and walked away with his empty bowl, "Make sure you eat that ramen before it gets too cold." He said as he rounded to corner and left her sight.

'What is your reason?' Sakura had that run through her mind over and over, 'What... is my reason?' the kunoichi started eating her ramen, it was still warm.

* * *

Naruto was just finishing his seventeenth bowl of his favorite ramen, and was going to start on his eighteenth.

"Hey there dobe." Naruto stopped what he was doing and turned to see Sasuke along with a red headed companion.

The blonde was a bit surprised, "Sasuke? What are you doing here? You don't like ramen- Wait....." Taking a closer look at the red haired stranger, "Gaara?"

"We'd like to have a little chat with you." Gaara placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Sasuke did the same to the other shoulder, but gripped it harder.

"Where is he?" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto grinned, "You know, you're the second person to ask me this."

Sasuke was a bit surprised. If someone else was looking for Musuko, who were they and what were their intentions? "Who else?" Sasuke asked his team mate, as he gripped his shoulder even more.

Naruto answered with his foxy grin, "Sakura." Both Gaara and Sasuke loosened their grips on Naruto's shoulders, while at the same time getting a confused look in their eyes.

"Are you serious?" Sasuke asked. Naruto replied with a nod, and after a second, the Uchiha started chuckling, "Oh great, looks like she's still nothing more than a fangirl. She just went on to the next boy."

"Hey!" Naruto slapped both of their hands off of him, as he moved up into Sasuke's face, "That is uncalled for, Sasuke. What gives you the right to insult your own team mate. It's alright if you make fun of me, but making fun of Sakura because she wants to get better as a ninja, I will not accept that." He shoved Sasuke out of the way and walked out of the ramen stand, but not without saying one more thing, "You insult anyone like that again, Sasuke-teme, I'll beat the crap out of you." after that, the blonde ninja was gone.

"Pfft," Sasuke wiped off what his team mate had said, "When did he get balls to talk to me like that?" Gaara did nothing but chuckle and look in the direction Naruto had left in. The Uchiha didn't understand, "What's with the funny face?"

Gaara shrugged his shoulders and smirked, "He's become more like the Sky Ninjas. Always leaving a mystery behind."

"Yeah, that's all he's gotten from them, but he's still the same weak little ninja as he always was." Sasuke retorted, trying to deny what the sand ninja said was true.

It became silent after that, while the two looked in the same direction. Then Gaara broke the silence, "Well, we best find Sakura." He placed his hands on the back of his head, "We're getting close, I can feel it." Sasuke nodded and followed beside the red headed ninja.

* * *

Naruto had managed to make himself distant from both Sasuke and Gaara, his team mate really got him angry. Everytime, Sasuke did nothing but insult either him or Sakura. It was usually himself that being made fun of, but still, Sasuke just finally stepped over the line, calling Sakura nothing but a fangirl. If she was just a fangirl, she'd have been dead by now. To Naruto, she was a great ninja, and could have been a good friend, if it weren't for the fact that she had that crush on Sasuke, and the actual crushing of her fists for Naruto.

With a sigh, he spoke to the wind, "I just wish she could get over Sasuke. I don't care who she's with, preferably me, but I'll be glad when she finds someone who does respect her."

"You really do like her don't you?" Said someone out of Naruto's sight. Naruto's ninja reflexes kicked in and he turned towards the noise, kunai in hand.

"That voice." Naruto tightened his guard, for he knew what happened the last time he heard it.

A kunai came flying out from his left, Naruto quickly rose his own kunai and deflected the oncoming one away.

"Good job." the voice came again, "You've improved since last time." a blur appeared off in the distance, and then reformed behind Naruto, with a kunai next to his cheek, "But not enough it seems." cutting a bit of his cheek so that blood came out.

Naruto was frightened and at the same time creeped out, "You are really weird, Anko." he said with a shiver, since the snake jounin started licking his wound.

Anko made a frown jokingly, "Aw, I come all this way to ask you something, and I don't even get a hello." She rubbed Naruto's blonde head, bringing a smile back to her face.

Naruto shoved the hand away and retorted, "Alright, what is it you want?" he crossed his arms, getting annoyed of the jounin quickly.

Said jounin bent down to be eye level with Naruto and asked, "I was just wondering where your white haired friend might be."

Once he heard that, Naruto tossed his arms up over his head and shouted, "Forget about in one day! Three people ask me about Musuko in one whole hour! But does anyone want to see me? No. Can they find Musuko first? No. Can they find me without a problem? Yes! Why is that exactly?" He stared at Anko, begging for an answer.

"...." Anko pointed at Naruto's chest. Naruto in return looked down, "Orange." the genin sweat dropped.

"Okay, so I'm noticeable. But-" Naruto was interrupted by Anko, "Noticeable?! I could just ask a homeless person, "Have you seen a guy in orange?", and he'd point me in the direction."

Naruto sweat dropped again, "Okay I get it-" Anko wasn't done, "Not only could he give me the direction, he could tell me where you came from, where you were heading and write down directions for me!" Anko was now holding her sides, trying to hold her laughter in.

His sweat drop grew even more, "Alright I get it. Orange is not-"

Anko still... wasn't done, "I... I wouldn't even need to ask a homeless man!" She fell on the ground, "The blind man next to him could tell me where you were!"

The sweat drop got just a bit larger, and steam came out of Naruto's ears. As Anko was rolling on the ground, "Forget it." and with that he turned around and walked away from the laughing snake jounin.

It took Anko awhile to stop laughing, and when she stood up, still snickering, she had realized that the small blonde had run off. With a frown, she sighed and went off to find Musuko again.

* * *

At the hospital, Jiraiya had miraculously come out with few injuries from his little incident. It could have been the fact that the people that treated him were all male medics, and that they kept all female medics off the same floor as the Toad Sannin was on.

While the pervy sage was lying in his bed, enjoying some of the hospital food with his good arm, Jiraiya was interrupted by two of the village elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, entering the room. The two wore solemn faces, showing that their visit was for serious reasons.

"Hello you two." Jiraiya said, taking another bite of his food, "What brings you to my humble little bed?"

Homura answered, "You know very well why we are here, Jiraiya."

Utatane continued with what Homura said, "The third Hokage, your sensei, pasted away more than a week ago." Jiraiya placed down the food he was about to eat, irritated to be reminded about his sensei dying. "The village cannot go on any longer without a Hokage, which is why we have come here."

Jiraiya turned his head to the two, now with a more serious face, "You guys want me to be Hokage?"

"You're one of the only people who are qualified to be so and are still in this village." Homura responded.

"What about Kakashi? He was taught by the Fourth himself." Jiraiya asked.

Utatane, "He is the only other decision we have, but you are more qualified as his teacher was your student."

Raising a finger, "Good point." the Toad Sannin went back to eating, "But there is someone better than me to take this position, you know."

"And who would that be?" Homura asked. Jiraiya simply looked at the male elder while still eating, "You are not suggesting her? Are you?" Jiraiya nodded, "But we don't know where she is, we have lost contact with her a long time ago."

Jiraiya retorted, "You have lost contact, not me." the two elders were surprised, "I have a pretty good idea as to where she is now. And if I know her, she'll be there for a few more weeks." Jiraiya finished up the last of his hospital meal, "Just let me get all rested up. I'll go fetch her myself, and all I require is to bring one person."

"And who would that be?" Jiraiya smiled at the two.

* * *

Sasuke and Gaara hadn't been able to find Sakura at all, which meant that they hadn't been able to find Musuko. Sasuke finally came to the conclusion that the person who would know where Sakura was, would be her best friend, Ino.

Heading to the Yamanaka flower shop, the two genin expected to find the blonde kunoichi, and sure enough, she was found tending to some deadly nightshade flowers hanging in some of the pots.

When she finished with the last flower, she noticed Sasuke walking towards the store, along with a red-headed stranger she felt like she had seen before somewhere. More importantly to her, Sasuke was coming towards her, and Sakura was nowhere to be found! She quickly fiddled with her hair a bit to make sure it wasn't unruly and walked towards the Uchiha and stranger as cutely as she could.

"Hey Sasuke-kun," Ino waved daintily, "What brings you here?"

Sasuke answered in a cold tone, "We're her to find Sa-" Gaara quickly covered the Uchiha's mouth.

"Some flowers for my sister." Gaara differed from the subject of Sakura, quickly, "She's in the hospital and I want to get her some."

Ino smiled at Gaara, still not knowing who he was, "Oh of course sir. What kind of flowers would you like?"

With a smile Gaara replied, "Some that would say, 'I'm sorry'." Ino smirked at the request, "So you're the cause heh?" Gaara scratched the back of his head, "You could say that." Her smirk turned in to a content smile as she went into the store and started looking for the flowers that suited his request. When she had left, he removed his hand from Sasuke's mouth.

Taking in a deep breath, "What did you do that for?" Sasuke was wondering why he was stopped when he asking about the whereabouts of Sakura.

Gaara presented his answer quietly, so that Ino couldn't hear him, "Did you not see the look in her eyes?" Sasuke looked at him confused, "She likes you. Just coming to see her to ask about another girl, that's not very wise, or decent for that matter."

"Since when did you show any consideration for anyone. Besides, she's nothing but a fangirl, I couldn't care less." Ino quickly popped her head out of the door, looking at the red headed stranger, the stranger waved back while Sasuke just looked at her. When she couldn't pin the face to a name, she went back out of sight. Once she did, Gaara sent his fist into Sasuke's face. "What did you that for?!"

Rubbing his knuckles, Gaara stared at the boy with the same eyes as he had before the invasion, "You are a good-for-nothing dick. There are people who care about you, people who aren't scared of you when you come into their sight. You should be happy, but what do you do? You don't give crap about them. It's people like you who don't deserve what you've gotten. I would've given my life to have what you have, and you treat it like a piece of trash."

Sasuke rubbed the side of his face, knowing there was going to be some sort of mark where Gaara hit. He didn't think that the sand ninja would have been this physically strong, since he just stood and fought with his sand most of the time.

As he was rubbing the spot Gaara hit on his face, Ino came out with a half dozen flowers, "Here you go, sir. These roses ought to do the trick, and they match your hair as well." Gaara gladly took them, still being unknown to Ino.

"Thank you." Gaara politely said as he took the roses, the violence in his eyes gone now, "Hopefully I can use these to impress someone eventually."

Ino giggled, knowing what he meant, "Well, sir, you aren't going to impress anyone with your hair like that in front of your face." She moved her hands up to his hair, "You're just like my friend Sakura when we were little. I always told her that hiding her forehead would-" she moved Gaara's hair to find the mark on his forehead, and she froze instantly, eyes filled with fear, jaw dropped. She didn't even move her hands from Gaara's hair, she just stood there looking at the mark.

Gaara smirked, he forgot what people did in reaction to seeing him, he was kind of happy he did forget too. As she stood there, Gaara thought it was finally time to end this, he grabbed her arms, lowering them down to her side. When he touched her hands, she let out a small scream, but that was quickly silenced when he placed one of the roses he had into her mouth.

Letting go of her arms, Gaara then spoke, "Alright, I'm not here to harm anyone, understand?" Ino didn't even move, "I just want some answers, and you will answer them with either a yes or no, understand?" Slowly, Ino nodded her head once. "Good, now would you know where your friend, Sakura, may be?" She shook her head this time, "Hmm, do you know where she might be?" Ino nodded, "That's wonderful." Gaara pulled the rose from out of her mouth, "Could you tell us where?"

"Sh-she sometimes goes t-to the the garden, where the sakura flowers grow." she let out a frightened snicker, "Figures, right?" she was going to snicker again, but Gaara placed the rose back into her mouth.

"Now, one more question, do you like Sasuke?" her eyes moved to the Uchiha, then she nodded again. Gaara now turned to Sasuke, "You see Sasuke? You take things for granted, the very reason why you're looking for Musuko on your own, again." With that, he left from the two leaf ninjas' sights.

The two of them just stood there, staring at each other. Ino looked at Sasuke timidly, wondering how he felt about her now. Sasuke on the other hand, just let out a snuff, and turned away from Ino, walking away from the shop. As Sasuke was walking away, Ino pulled out the rose in her mouth, and looked at it, instead of Sasuke's back.

'That was....Gaara of the Desert?'

* * *

Naruto had finally made his way to the hospital. He asked a female nurse as to wear a 'Jiraiya' was, her expression changed to that of hate, as she answered which floor the Sannin was on. Upon reaching the floor, Naruto noticed one room being guarded by a few shinobi, male to be specific. When he got up to them, Naruto asked for entry, the guards nodded, saying that Jiraiya was expecting him. Naruto knew what was going to come of this. With a smile, he opened the door and entered into the room.

"YOU DIRTY-NO-GO0D-FOR-NOTHING ATTACKING ME FROM BEHIND! YOU KNOW I DO MY BEST RESEARCH THERE! SO WHAT IF THERE'S A HOT SPRING DOWN BELOW? I GET PERFECT CONCENTRATION THERE!"

"It's good to know you're still you, pervy sage." Naruto smiled while also putting his hand on his head.

"Hmph, You just be lucky that I didn't get too badly hurt this time, and that I didn't ask you here just to yell at you." Naruto moved his hand from his head, and looked at his other sensei with a curious look. "The elders came to me today, to make me the fifth Hokage. I refused, however."

"Well, that's good. It would be bad if a pervert was Hokage." Jiraiya's eye twitched a little, but he shoved what his student said and continued.

"Someone needs to be Hokage, and I think I know the perfect person to be it."

Naruto, now with an even more curious look, "Who would that be, pervy sage?"

Jiraiya smiled at his blonde student, "You'll find out soon enough, you little runt. Tomorrow at noon, you're coming with me to get the next Hokage."

"Really!?" Naruto was overly excited and ran over to sensei, "Thanks, pervy sage for bringing me!" However, Naruto didn't noticed that he was pushing down on Jiraiya's bad arm, and causing him massive amounts of pain.

"OOOWWWWWWWW!"

(Otogakure)

"That blasted sensei of mine!" Orochimaru shouted out, feeling pain throughout his arms. "How could that old man do such a thing?"

Kabuto was sitting by his master's side, wrapping the arms in a new set of bandages, "He was the Hokage, master. His library of jutsus should be exceedingly large, especially due to his age."

"That may be so." Orochimaru sneered, "But he has slowed down my plans substantially. If I can't my arms back to normal, then all my work will have been for nothing."

"What do you suggest we do then?" Kabuto asked, finishing up the bandages.

Orochimaru gave a little smirk to his follower, "We're going to visit an old friend of mine."

"You mean, her?" Orochimaru nodded, "Be ready to leave in two hours." Kabuto nodded and walked out of the room, "And Kabuto," the sound ninja turned to his master, "Bring, 'Project Katsyu' as well." Kabuto's eyes narrowed, but then quickly returned to normal, as he followed his master's orders.

_'Those shinobi,'_ Orochimaru thought to himself, _'They were his students, I have no doubt of that.'_ He looked down at his motionless arms, _'Soon, my old friend, I will be like you, I will be....Immortal.'_

Kabuto was walking down the hallways. As he was, _'"Project Katsyu"? Orochimaru wants to bring her? Something's got him concerned. But what?'_

_

* * *

_

**Well well well, what do we have here. Gaara is back, with a new look, Jiraiya and Naruto will be setting out to find the Fifth Hokage, _you all know who that should be_, and so is Orochimaru, but with someone else, who is this new person? We'll just have to kee-**

**PHO: WAAAAAIIIIIIIITTTT!!!!!**

**What?! I'm doing this stuff now? *sigh* Alright. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you all to my little assistant, PHO (pronounced 'foe') my Plot Hole Observer, otherwise known as my Arch/Nemesis (A/N). If he finds any plot holes in the story, he informs me right away, and I'll be able to see if they are in fact plot holes or not. So what do you have for me today PHO?**

**PHO: Well, I been looking at this chapter, all pretty firm in plot, except for one thing.**

**What's that?**

**PHO: The whole massive change in Gaara's appearance, I'd understand the new clothes to stay hidden. But what about his hair? It's been a week and it's already covering his forehead?! That's not normal!**

**Oh ho, very true, but remember, he lives in the desert.**

**PHO: What does that have anything to do with his hair.**

**You see, people who live in the desert or really hot dry areas grow hair faster to keep their bodies shaded and to retain most of their bodily fluids to keep them hydrated. Since Gaara has only been in Konaha for little over a week now, he can't possibly have adapted by then and so continues to grow hair, and refuses to cut to keep a better disguise.**

**PHO: Oooooooooh! I see. Well that's good then. Got nothing else for you then.**

**Alrighty thence. Now remember readers, PHO's job is never done, and he continues observing everything to make sure he hasn't missed anything. Help him out if you guys have seen any major plot holes, or anything that just doesn't seem right to you, because the Sky Ninja themselves are still a mystery to most everyone reading and the plot line is a little confusing to some. PHO will be glad to recieve them all, as it's basically his food source, and without any, he would die within the month.**

**Righto now, I'm going to be done for now. I say goodbye, and hope you enjoyed the newest chapter of Sky Ninja. (Oh, and PHO says bye too)**


	14. Setting Sun

Chapter 17 is here for you all to read. Hope you all enjoy this new chapter of **Sky Ninja**!

Things have been going slow for me, what with school and everything. But luckily I've kept this story alive and well in my head, while at the same time trying to organize other stories. Writing won't be my difficulty for the time being, the problem right now will be finding the time to do so and actually getting it posted up before you guys lose interest in this fic.

I'm glad that all of you are enjoying the story so far, and the only complaint I've had is how quickly Hinata got together with Chichi, and honestly, I'm not really concerned about that. As long as everyone else is not having a problem with that, then it's fine with me. If it is a problem, how am I suppose to know if you don't tell me? Any problems, questions, queries, or compliments will all be accepted gladly.

Enjoy this chapter all of you!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or anything else famous. Except for myself**

* * *

Naruto came running out of the hospital in absolute joy and excitement. He, along with the pervy sensei, was going to look for the fifth Hokage tomorrow. He knew what he had to do, rush home and get his stuff around to leave.

Since the Hokage's death, nothing had been going on, the villagers and other ninjas had been helping each other rebuilding what was destroyed by the Sand/Sound invasion. The damage done wasn't all too great, but it would still take some time until the village was completely back to normal. As long as nothing like the invasion happened anytime soon, there would be no need to worry about completion.

The blonde ninja was heading towards his apartment, planning on what he was going to pack. Until something hit him, literally.

"Hey, dummy!" An angry female voice was heard just as Naruto felt a fist hit him in the side of face. Looking over, the blonde shinobi spotted yet another blonde shinobi, Ino.

"Why on earth did you punch me in the face?" Naruto said, rubbing the hit spot, "You could have just called out my name."

Ino came over to him and appeared to be sorry for her actions. "Sorry, just a force of habit." Reaching into her weapons pouch, she grabbed a cloth and bottle of water, "Let me help with that." Ino poured some water onto the cloth and started patting down the struck area on Naruto's face.

"You a medic now?" He asked.

"I'm just the one who carries the medical equipment. Oh, and I'm the female of the team." Feeling that it was enough, Ino put the cloth and bottle away. "Before this whole fiasco started, I wanted to stop you to ask you something."

"Please," Naruto placed his hands out in front of him, with an irritated look on his face, "Don't tell me you want to know where Musuko is?"

Ino quirked an eyebrow in return, "No, why on earth would I want to know that?"

"It's just that quite a few people have been looking for him." Naruto responded, "And somehow, they can only manage to find me."

Quickly changing back to the original subject, "Anyways, I just wanted to know if you… if you knew what was up with Sakura?"

"Huh?" the Uzumaki scratched his brow, "There's something up with her?"

"Well, not really something up with her. I know she's been acting pretty much the same. But," she paused, wondering if Naruto was really the right person to talk to about this, "But Sasuke is looking for her."

"Sasuke is looking for her?" Naruto repeated. Ino nodded, and then Naruto's face turned to one of worry. "He's actually going that far."

Ino didn't like this one bit. "Why? What's wrong?"

Naruto quickly responded, "We gotta find Sakura, fast."

"Why? What's wrong?" Ino repeated her question, but now with more concern.

"Sasuke, that's what's wrong." Naruto moved closer to Ino and grabbed her by the arms. "Where's Sakura?"

Ino became a bit frightened by Naruto's assertiveness, but answered his question. "Sh-she sometimes goes t-to the the garden, where the sakura flowers grow. Naruto, you're scaring me."

Naruto released Ino after that, replying, "Not as much as Sakura will be when Sasuke finds her." Running off in the direction where the gardens were located, Naruto still had a look of worry, but also determination to reach his destination in time.

"Wait!" Ino cried out to the running shinobi, "I'm coming with you!" She dashed up right next to him. If this thing was going to turn into a fight, Naruto would need more than himself, because Ino knew that Gaara was with Sasuke as well.

* * *

Chichi and Hinata had decided to take a walk in the forested area of the village, taking their time to reach their destination to keep training. At the moment, the two were walking with an arm around the other, and their new pet, Nintai, was running around along their shoulders being petted by the two of them as she passed by. Until they got further into the woods, there had been no conversing between the two, but then Hinata broke that silence.

"You said you were on a mission right?" Chichi replied with a 'yep', "Is it possible for you to tell me what it is?"

Chichi let out a sigh and looked at her, "Sorry, but no. This mission is pretty high up there."

"Okay then." Hinata slightly disappointed that she couldn't find out why he was here, but she understood that if it was kept secret, that the mission was indeed very important to his village. This then brought her to their next subject. "Could you tell me of where you came from then?"

With a smile, the sky ninja asked, "So you finally want to get to know me?" Hinata nodded with the same smile as Chichi had. So then Chichi tried to explain what he could of his village. "Well, where to start?" after pondering for a moment, Chichi began to talk in description, "The village is located on top of the highest mountain in our country. The tip is so high, that the village itself can never be seen because the clouds would conceal it. Hence the name, "Hidden in the Sky". Our village is about as large as yours, except we do not have a massive 100 foot wall surrounding the entire area that we live in. We don't honor our kages in the same way you guys do, but instead we raise statues on the sides of this massive walkway which leads straight to the Kuukage Tower. That is where our sensei is. Travelling around, you'd see the outer rims of the village is where all the training areas for our shinobi are, and going in further would be business buildings until finally all the houses where the civilians live and the Tower standing in the very middle of it all." Looking back down at Hinata, who was petting Nintai's tail, Chichi stopped his tour of the village, "That's a general idea of the village if one was to just visit."

Hinata looked at him now, "I'd like to see it myself. Hopefully after your mission, I can come and visit."

"If only that were so." Chichi said under his breath.

"Did you say something?"

"…No." "We should be there soon."

"Yeah. Wish we could still walk around a bit."

"You know Hinata." She looked back up at the gray haired boy, "I really haven't gotten to see this entire forest, why don't you show me around?"

The Hyuuga grinned at the request, "By all means. Right this way." And the two veered off the path and into the trees, to explore the forest.

* * *

Seirei was in a better mood than he usually was, as he headed back to the top of the Hokage Monument to see Temari. Thanks to that little rabbit incident, he knew what he to do. After a couple more leaps up the staircase, he had reached where the boulder was lying over the hole. Or at least, where it was suppose to be lying.

The boulder had been smashed to pieces, and the hole perfectly revealed. Quickly, Seirei jumped down into the hole to examine if anything had happened, or if the boulder breaking was just some freak accident. Oh how he wished it was.

Entering the room below, the sky ninja was in shock. All the doors had been opened, some by force. Looking in most of them, they were all empty. The room with Kankuro's puppets, the room with Misumi chained up, all empty. He didn't even want to look in Room #1, where Temari was held. Just looking at the door told him the majority of the story. There was no door, but instead splinters scattered across the floor. When Seirei finally decided to look into the room, he saw cut marks all along the walls, shuriken and kunai on the floor, and the chair and mattress that had been in there torn to pieces.

To Seirei, one of two things had happened. One: Temari managed to retrieve her fan from the opposite room, got angry at her room and went all medieval on it with the weapons she found in the puppet room, then vaporized Misumi, and finally destroyed the boulder above her and escaped. Or two: Someone managed to destroy the boulder after being greatly damaged by Seirei's own punch to it, sent ninja down into the area to search it, got in a fight with Temari, captured her, Misumi, and took everything from all the other rooms for inspection. The first was what he was hoping for, that way Temari would at least not be in serious trouble. The second one meant that they took her to their holding area for shinobi, where her puppeteer brother was being held. And sadly, he knew that was the situation that Temari was in right now.

"So troublesome."

* * *

"Neither one of them." Musuko deactivated his Mitarigan, after a failed attempt to see what his brothers were up to. "Either they're doing something I don't want to see, or they are sleeping." Placing his hands on the back of his head, he looked up into the sky, "Oh well, I guess it's not my problem if they don't want me to see. This means I have the rest of the day to myself."

The white haired sky ninja had been taking his own little stroll around the Forest of Death, knowing that no one would bother him anymore if he was in there. As long as he stayed away from any of the areas where the dangerous animals were, then he'd be able to wander in peace. On a large branch that was stories above the ground, Musuko took his time to reach the end of it, then turn around and head back. He had nothing better to do that day and just wanted the rest of the day to himself, so this was the perfect thing to do in his mind.

"Now if only it were that simple." Musuko sighed. Quickly raising his left gauntlet to his face, he was just able to deflect a kunai coming from the left and above. He then sent his arm down to his side to deflect yet another kunai which had silently followed the first. "Why are you here? And could any of you just come up and talk to me like a normal person?" The attacker snickered, and then complied with Musuko's demand. Coming out into sight, the other forest wanderer was the snake jounin, Anko.

The jounin was twirling a third kunai in hand as she approached the sky ninja, "Sorry about that, it's just a force of habit." Anko placed the kunai back into her pouch. "You're a hard ninja to come by, you know that?"

"I try. I haven't had a day to myself yet." Musuko sort of lamented over the fact.

"Lucky for me that this is my training grounds, so just happening to run into you was pure-"

"Coincidence?" Musuko finished her sentence, "I knew that this was your training ground. I just didn't think you'd come to train today that's all."

"Again with this 'I know' stuff of yours." Anko said, being a bit annoyed. "You think you know everything about me? You probably don't even know the first thing about me."

In response to what Anko said, Musuko reached into his back pocket and pulled out the notepad he carried with him. Flipping a few pages, he began to read one of the lines. "Sadistic, snake style via sensei, and let's not forget, painful childhood caused by her sensei." Closing the notepad, Musuko looked at Anko, who had the same look of shock as when she first read the notepad herself, "If I'm not mistaken, I was spot on wasn't I?" Anko didn't answer, "Did someone forget about that day? That's a shame. It was pretty memorable to me."

"How much do you know about me?" Anko asked, with a hint of nervousness in her voice, but with eyes of interest.

Musuko sighed once again, "I know that you were, and are, an orphan. That your sensei was a man that you had looked up to. On the left side of your neck, there is a mark. Not a birthmark, but one that your sensei gave to you. You enjoy dango, probably as much as Naruto does ramen. More importantly, you were pretty much marked just like Naruto was. An outcast. However, you stayed in the village and became jounin. You don't really have any friends, because you are always sadistic to others and you keep yourself distant from them." Musuko paused to see Anko had back up some and had her hand covering where her mark was on her neck. "Do you want me to continue?"

"You know more?" the snake jounin backed up more. From what she could remember, this was the first time she felt scared since her sensei, Orochimaru, had destroyed her life. "H-How much more?"

"Lady Anko, I-"

"'Lady Anko'? Why are you calling me that?"

"Would you rather I just call you 'Anko' then?"

"Yes please." Anko returning to her normal self, but still where she was when she backed away from Musuko.

The sky ninja continued, "Anko, I know all there is to know about you. And believe me when I say it sucks. It's sort of a talent of mine."

"Bullsh-"

"But it's not Anko. I'm am telling the downright truth. If you don't believe me then that is your choice." The white haired shinobi turned around and leapt off onto another branch. Landing on it, he turned back to Anko, "If you want proof of it, then follow me. I'll find someone so that you will believe me."

Anko stepped forward, interested in Musuko's proposal, but also surprised at what he said, "You know more about others too?"

Musuko turned away and jumped off into the trees, "More than you know."

* * *

Sasuke was grudgingly walking down the village streets with a disguised Gaara walking right by his side. For the past ten minutes, they had been walking around the streets, taking every turn of the road, even if it wasn't the one that was going to the gardens. And why were they doing this? Because…

"Gaara," Sasuke asked his walking comrade, "Why are we walking?"

"Because," Gaara answered, with his hands still up on the back of his head, "I need to walk around. I haven't really done this before. Usually for us ninja, we have to be somewhere immediately. We don't really take the time to just walk, now that I think about it."

"But we do have to be someplace Gaara!" Sasuke's voice began to rise, "We need to be at the gardens, before we lose Sakura. And you're going to lose that chance just because you want to walk?!" Gaara nodded gladly. "Fine. You can have your little joy walk. I on the other hand, have somewhere to be right now." with that, the Uchiha sped off down the road. However, Gaara, with his sand, had caused Sasuke to trip over himself and fall onto the ground.

"I have to be at the same place too, Sasuke." The sand ninja went over to help Sasuke up, "But all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy. You need to learn to relax a little."

"Relax?" Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. "When on earth- did you become so- so…" He still couldn't believe it. The person right in front of him was just more than a week ago a psychopathic killer who thought of nothing but drinking the blood of his enemies. But now, now he's… this.

"How did I become so calm?" Gaara finished Sasuke's question, "To tell you the truth, I have no idea. Right now, a part of me wants me to kill right now. But the other part, it's just…. Calm. And you know something?" He turned to look at Sasuke, who looked back in return, "I actually like the new me." After a few more steps, Gaara pointed down another road. "Let's take this one. It'll get us closer to the gardens."

"Glad you still have priorities." Sasuke walked down the new road, once again, begrudgingly.

* * *

"I said I don't-UGH!" Her speech was stopped short by a fist flying by and striking her across the face. "And again with the hitting of the face." She said mockingly.

A leaf ninja retorted, "I'll be happy to hit that pretty face of yours again if you don't give us the information we're looking for. Otherwise you're not getting out of this cell."

Temari was definitely in a predicament. She was chained up pretty well in a small holding cell. From what she could remember, she was about a few floors underground, meaning she was probably in a pretty secure area. At the moment, she was being interrogated by two leaf ninja. One was doing most of the interrogating, while the other was just being there in case things got out of hand. As of yet, the second hadn't done anything to stop his partner.

"I've answered your question I don't know how many times. I have no idea where my brother is." She got slammed in the face with another punch from the shinobi. "Can you please, stop going for the face." She looked up at the assaulting ninja.

"No, I think I'll stay with what I'm doing." He spat down at her feet. "For someone who decided to destroy our village, I'm not going to show any pity for. I don't care if you're daddy is the Kazekage." The ninja gave a small, sadistic chuckle. "Or was the Kazekage anyway."

"Was?" Temari lifted up her head, showing some blood on the side of her head, "What do mean was?"

"What? You didn't know?" He asked her, babying the kunoichi now, "Turns out old pappy had been dead since before the Chunin Exams even started." At hearing this, Temari's eye widened with utter shock. "Congrats." He continued to mock her, "He's been dead two months, and you didn't even know about it."

"That's impossible!" Temari shouted back to the interrogator. "I saw him sitting right next to the Hokage during the finals. There's no way he could have been dead!"

The leaf ninja grew a smile on his face, "Oh man, this is going to be good." He placed his hand on the wall right next to her head, staring her down, still with that smile, "A ninja known as Orochimaru had taken his place. It was he who sat next to the Hokage. Not to mention," The leaf ninja grabbed Temari's hair with his other hand and pulled her head forward. "He killed our Hokage!" He slammed the back of her head into the wall.

"Okay that's enough." The second shinobi finally spoke up, as he opened the cell door.

"Yeah," The interrogator agreed, "She's broken now. Just look at her." They both saw Temari's body; almost lifeless, only being held up by the chains, and her eyes wide with shock. "We'll get all the information we want out of her tomorrow." With that, he closed the door behind him, and Temari listened as their footsteps got quieter.

'_He's dead?'_ The information finally sinking into her, _'My father's dead? It was Orochimaru who killed him?'_

"Temari!" Temari couldn't believe it. She had finally started talking to herself. "Temari! Is that you?" She hadn't realized it at first, but she made a good recreation of her brother Kankuro's voice. "Temari! It's me Kankuro! Look up at the vent!"

Looking up, she saw the vent, where the voice was actually coming from, "Oh thank goodness, I'm not going crazy." Temari said to herself, totally relieved. "Kankuro!" She called back to the vent, "I'm here!"

"Well it's about time you answered!" Kankuro shouted back through the vent, "I was beginning to think that I was yelling at the wall."

"Are you up in the vents?" Temari asked.

"No." Her brother sadly answered back. "I'm locked up in the cell right next to you."

"Why would they do that?"

"Probably to break us even more. Give us a sense of false hope."

"How have you been doing in here?"

"Oh I've been just fine. They serve me tea and crumpets every day." … "How do you think I've been doing!?"

"Glad you're still yourself."

"How about you? It didn't sound like anything near tea and crumpets."

"Eh, they roughed me up a bit."

"….Temari?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it true what they said? That our father's dead?"

"I…I don't know. But if that's so, then the rest of what they said means that-"

"Orochimaru set this whole thing up. Even if the invasion succeeded, we'd still be in a bad position."

"When I get out of here, that snake's going to wish he was never born."

"Yeah, I'll give him a taste of the Sand Village's fury."

"Is there any way you can get out?"

"No. They placed paper seals on all of my fingers. You can tell this is a ninja's prison. You?"

"My hands are chained up pretty well. I'm not getting out anytime soon."

"It's not like you would get anywhere far anyways. Our weapons are probably on the other side of this place. At least mine are. The chakra I left in them is just enough to sense."

"So we only have two hopes of getting out then, huh?"

"Two?"

"Someone has to get in here and break us out. That would either be the only other relative we have, Gaara."

"No chance that'll happen. If he shows up it'll be war between both villages, not to mention the massive bloodshed here."

"Well, then I guess our best bet is him then."

"Who?"

"You'll see. He'll be here." _'I hope.'_

"Who?!"

* * *

In the gardens, sure enough, Sakura was found sitting on one of the many benches along the walkway. The one she was sitting on was the bench in front of the Sakura flowers. Ever since Musuko had last talked to her, she had a lot on her mind, so she went to where she knew she could be alone and think. The pink haired kunoichi held in her hand one of the many flowers that were in front of her and had looked closely at each petal as she slowly twirled it back and forth in her hand.

'_No, that can't be the only one. There has to be another reason I did this. My family? They both supported me in my decision, but neither one of them was a ninja, so they didn't even suggest it to me. My friends? Yeah! It was my friends. They were going to the academy as well. So then… I did this out of peer pressure? No, no that's not it.'_ Sakura grabbed onto the sides of her head, closing her eyes to think harder, _'Come on, I didn't become a ninja just for that. I didn't become a ninja just for Sasuke! Think Sakura think! Why is it that's the only reason you can come back to? Why?!' _She squeezed her hands so tightly that she had crushed the Sakura flower, which she had forgotten all about. _'You know why that's the only reason you can think of.' _She began talking to herself, _'It's because that _is_ the reason you joined. There was no glory in it for you, no need to make a name. You didn't even have a decent goal. All you were thinking about is having Sasuke as your boyfriend. You knew that the academy was your best chance at doing that. You even were willing to destroy your friendship with Ino, who had been by your side for years. Face it Sakura, you've got no reason to be a ninja aside to fulfill a fantasy.'_

Sakura's grip loosened on her head, releasing the crushed flower as well. Her arms fell to her sides and she fell back onto the bench, looking up to the sky.

'_Great. Now I'm sounding like Musuko.' … 'Maybe- Maybe that's a good thing.' _Closing her eyes, she relaxed a bit more on the bench, but still continued to think to herself. _'I'll stay here for a little while longer. Then, then I'm going to look for Sasuke, and ask him what he thinks about me. If he accepts me, then my reason is all that I'd need.'_

A wind blew by, sending the crushed Sakura flower into the distance, out of the kunoichi's sight.

* * *

"So this is what it's all about? Musuko!?" Ino said in annoyance, finding out something that the Sky Ninja were involved in, once again. On their way to the gardens, Naruto had given a short summary of what was going on to Ino.

"Yeah, Sakura was the last person I knew who was with Musuko. That's what I told Sasuke. So he must be out hunting her to find Musuko."

"I don't get it." Ino questioned, "Why doesn't he just find Musuko and cut out the middle man."

Naruto smiled at the question, "For some reason, it isn't that simple, even a jounin asked me where he was." Ino was surprised at the new info, "That probably means that if he doesn't want to be seen, he won't be." Ino, again, was surprised, "But Sasuke doesn't know that, so he'll look all over this village to find even one of them. If he has a lead, he'll take it, and he'll get one by any means necessary." Naruto looked over at Ino, "That's why we have to reach her before he does."

Ino, fully understanding the situation now, was just as concerned as Naruto was for Sakura. Ever since the Chunin Exams, he had been acting more and more aggressive to others. She wanted to know what was wrong with him, and maybe help him, but the more important thing at the moment was to find Sakura and keep her safe from Sasuke's hunt for the Sky Ninjas.

'_Please,'_ Ino said to herself, _'Let us reach her in time.'_

"Agreed." Ino, surprised for a third time, looked over at Naruto.

"Were you just talking to me?" The kunoichi asked.

"Yeah. Didn't you say something?" Naruto replied. Ino was utterly confused. Didn't she say that in her head?

* * *

In an open area, only being covered by the treetops, Musuko came falling through the leaves above and stood in the center of the opening. After he had looked around his surroundings, he walked over to a nearby tree, and leaned up against it. As he lay against the tree, he went to fiddling with the gauntlets on his arms.

"3… 2…" A rustling was heard from the trees above, and then Anko came landing down onto the ground in the middle of the clearing, "Oh, just a little bit off."

The snake jounin didn't take too long to spot her genin target, but she stayed where she was, not liking the terrain at all. The place was well covered by the trees and bushes surrounding the area. Also, from the journey over here, she knew that it was far away from hearing distance. Only another ninja, or a lost villager, would be there or even show up. Obviously, she was ready to battle if the time came for that.

"Well," Musuko started off, "You actually did follow me. Not like I tried to make it hard either."

Anko, a bit annoyed that her curiosity had gotten this much out of her, the last person she went looking for was the blonde Naruto boy, but that was just to find this white haired boy instead. The jounin then engaged into the conversation, "So, where are they?"

"Who?" Musuko looked confused.

"The person that you were going to use to prove that you haven't been stalking me my entire life." Anko was starting to become impatient. She wanted to know just how on earth this little boy knew her entire life, even when she didn't even know it.

Musuko slapped his forehead, with a smile on his face, "Of course! I almost forgot about that."

"Seriously." Anko sweat dropped, "It hasn't even been three minutes…"

"I know, it's just I was thinking about if you'd really be able to find me. Even though it should have been ridiculously easy. But then again, it seems Naruto is easier to find than I am." Musuko's smile turned into a smirk, "Am I right?"

Anko's expression became that of surprised again, "H-how did you know I met him?! That was today, and we were the only two presences that I sensed. No way could you have been there!"

"That's even more proof of my talent. I know everything that you have done, even the things you don't remember."

"You really are a stalker, aren't you?" Anko mocked the genin.

"Just wait," Musuko sighed at the insult, "When they show up, you'll get a better understanding as to what I'm able to do. And better yet, it'll prove that I'm no stalker. If anything, I'm a ninja, which is like a stalker, only we're supposed to kill our target." Both Anko and Musuko smirked at the comment.

"So," Anko said, "Am I allowed to know who these people are that are coming? Or is that another surprise that you're hiding?"

Musuko replied as he looked around, "That's fair enough, the people who are showing up are," looking around a second time, "Chichi and Hinata." Musuko continued to look around, while Anko returned the action.

"….? What are we looking for?" Anko looked in every direction that Musuko had.

Answering her question, "For those very people, Chichi and Hinata. They usually come through this area around this time. Maybe they started late." Once more, he looked around the area, finally giving up, "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until they show." Musuko slid down on the tree behind him and sat down on the ground and placed his hands on the back of his head.

"Wait," Anko walked towards Musuko with her hands on her hips, "You're telling me to just sit here and do nothing? I have better things to do you know. I'm a jounin who has a full schedule today!"

"No you don't." Musuko replied, closing his eyes, "You have absolutely nothing to do today, why do you think I allowed you to find me of all days?"

Anko was annoyed at the sky ninja's tone, but was even more annoyed by the smile he had after he told her that she knew she had the day off. With a huff of air, "Fine."

"Pick a tree." Musuko said without opening his eyes. Anko complied, and chose the same tree that Musuko had chosen and slid down a foot away from the little guy. "Thought you would choose here."

"Why's that?" Anko asked, closing her eyes as well.

"It's a good tree."

* * *

Chichi and Hinata were still on their 'scenic' detour through the forest, when Chichi looked up into an opening in the trees above him.

"The sun's getting close to setting, I guess when we get there we won't have much time to train." Chichi turned to his female companion, smiling at the misfortune. Hinata returned the smile, "Oh yes, but I guess we can do some training in the dark, couldn't we?"

Pausing to think about Hinata's suggestion, Chichi gave a nod of agreement. As he nodded, he reached down to Hinata's arm to let Nintai crawl up on his own. The diamonite quickly leapt onto his hand, and once it did, Chichi raised the pet up to his face.

"So what do you think, Nintai? Does she make a good owner?" Obviously, the creature couldn't answer, so Nintai answered with its tail wrapping around one of Chichi's fingers. "I thought so too." With that answer, Hinata stepped in front of Chichi, having them standing face to face with each other. Slowly, the Hyuuga heiress placed her arms around the sky ninja's waist, holding him in embrace which Chichi returned.

Looking up to her dear friend, Hinata said quietly, "Kiss me." Closing her eyes, she waited as Chichi's head came closer to her own. When her lips met, she realized that she was not touching lips. Opening her eyes, the Hyuuga saw Chichi's forehead instead of his lips, and looking further down, she saw that Chichi looked like he was deep in thought. She was about to say something to get him out of it, but then she looked closer at his eyes. The left one was green with a black line coming out of the pupil, the Mitarigan.

"You know something Hinata?" The sky ninja raised his head. His expression showed that he was annoyed, "Sometimes, I really hate my brothers."

"Why's that?" Hinata was concerned now, "Is there something wrong? Did you see something that you didn't like?"

"Yeah." Chichi answered, walking by Hinata, "It's Musuko, and he's waiting for us at the training ground."

"What? What for?"

"I don't know, but we better hurry, it's probably something important." Chichi leapt up into the trees, leaving Hinata standing where she was. She was feeling very disappointed that the moment was ruined for the two of them. However, after being around one of them for this long, she knew that this indeed was something important. She just wished, it could have lasted just- "Oh," All of a sudden Chichi came back from the trees, standing in front of the surprised Hinata. Grabbing her, he placed a kiss onto the kunoichi's lips, leaving on her a smile, "Shouldn't leave you like that, now should I?" With the two of them now smiling at each other, they both jumped up into the trees, to hurry on to the training grounds, before it got dark, which wasn't too far behind. The sun was just touching the horizon.

* * *

"Finally!" Sasuke said out in relief, "I can see the gardens." He started to run off, but once again, he was tripped over by Gaara.

"Just take it easy, Sasuke. It's not going anywhere." Gaara said. For the entire walk there, he had been strolling along casually, waving at people who were on the streets, and all of them waved back gladly. "I really enjoyed this day."

"You know what?" The Uchiha said back to his companion, "I would have enjoyed this day too. If we actually were able to have gotten here half an hour ago!"

Gaara just shook his head at Sasuke's remark, "You take these days for granted. That's why I envy you so much. I wish I could have had these days. Days where everyone saw you, and instead of screaming and running away in fear, they are waving at you with smiles on their faces."

"Those days mean nothing. They're wasted when one could be using them to reach their goals."

"And what are your goals, Sasuke?" Gaara asked.

"It is to kill a certain someone." The raven haired genin's fist began to clench, "The man who killed my entire clan."

Gaara stopped walking and looked at Sasuke in disbelief, "You're goal is to kill one man?"

After walking a few extra steps, Sasuke too stopped, "It has been the only thing I've wanted to do."

"Then I have a question to ask of you." Gaara responded. Sasuke turned to face the red haired ninja, "What are you going to do after you achieved your goal?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"…Is it?" Gaara crossed his arms, waiting for the shinobi in front of him to answer. "What plans have you really made, aside from revenge? What will you do ten years from now? Five years from now? What about even two?" Sasuke did not answer he just stared at Gaara with a stern face, "You really haven't seen past your quest for revenge, have you?" Still remaining silent, Gaara and Sasuke just stood there as the wind blew past them, sending a sakura flower past them and off into the distance. "Very well then," Gaara spoke up, "I won't say anymore, let's go." He went walking, Sasuke shortly followed.

* * *

Sakura was still sitting on the bench in the gardens, she didn't know why, but she felt like she needed the time to herself.

Feeling that she had sat down long enough, she had gotten up and walked over to the sakura flowers again. She grabbed yet another flower, this being bigger than the previous one she had picked. Sakura looked deeply into the flower, only to show that she was thinking just as much.

'_What will happen? What if he rejects me? Can- can I really handle it? I have been holding through for this long, this shouldn't be any different. Right? But, what if it is the exact same thing. This just shows that he will never accept me. I've tried everything, and the closest thing I've gotten is him asking if I was alright, then it went back to how it used to be. Actually now, now it seems it's even worse.'_ She sat back down onto the bench, moping to herself again. _'If he refuses me, it'll be just like every other day that I've tried, and if he accepts me, what then? Do I stop being a ninja and support him back at home? And his clan? We'll be the ones who would have the duty to restore it. Am I actually ready to have children? To hold that kind of responsibility? Would he even let me have a choice in such a matter? He is very controlling, when it comes to working together, he usually does things by himself.'_

She closed her eyes and bowed her head so that her hands where touching her hair band, still holding the sakura blossom. _'Musuko was right. I- I don't-'_

"I don't love him." She crushed the second blossom in her hand, but also, watered it with a single tear falling from her face. "I don't want to anymore."

"Exactly," Sakura looked up to her right to see who was talking to her, "What is it that you don't want anymore?" She didn't recognize this person, he had read hair and a green cloak over most of his body, but he carried a relaxed smile, like someone she knew. However, when she looked past the stranger, "Hello, Sakura. I'd like to have a little chat with you." Sakura's eyes widened, Sasuke was here!

"Sasuke!" Another voice shouted out in the opposite direction. The three looked over to see who it was, even though from the shouting voice, it was pretty obvious. Naruto stopped at the left of Sakura, with Ino following right behind.

The two groups stared at each other, Naruto at Sasuke, and Ino at the stranger who was Gaara. As they were staring, Naruto walked forward.

"You stay away from her, Sasuke." Naruto pointed at the Uchiha.

* * *

Musuko's eyes opened up, remembering that they were actually waiting for someone. He had almost fallen asleep, and he would have if he didn't wake himself up. Looking over at Anko, it didn't look like she had dozed off at all. She was instead playing around with one of her kunai, having the flat part slide up and down her arms, and then throwing it up in the air only to catch it and repeat.

Anko heard a quick breathe from Musuko as he stood himself up from the tree. The jounin did so in return, seeing that it was finally time to get her answers.

"It's about time," Anko said while stretching her arms out. "So, where are they?"

"They'll be here in a few seconds." Sure enough, as Musuko said, Chichi came landing down into the middle of the clearing, with Hinata by his side.

Anko was a bit surprised, she was thinking that the person that was going to show was going to be someone like Naruto, or maybe even Shikamaru, but Hinata was not really who she was expecting. Still, if this was the person Musuko was going to prove to his skill with, then it was perfectly fine with her. However, after a few seconds of realizing who it was.

"Wait a minute." The jounin grabbed the attention of both sky ninja, "This is the Hinata you were talking about? The Hinata? This is the heiress of the Hyuuga Clan. How on earth did you get her out into the woods, by herself, with no guards at all?"

Chichi turned to Anko, with a smile on his face as always. "Her father lets me train with her."

Anko stood there, not convinced by his answer. She reached behind her to grab a kunai, "Don't give me that. There's no way that her clan would let her go with someone who hasn't even been in this village a year, not to mention someone who isn't even from this village." The kunai now in her hand, "Now I'll ask you again, how did you get her out of the clan's hold?"

"She does make a good point." Musuko spoke up, with his hand on his chin, "The Hyuuga clan shouldn't be so lenient, since this is their heiress, and that she had already been kidnapped by the Cloud Village. You'd think they would keep a tight chain on her."

She had lost track of how many times she had been surprised by Musuko's knowledge, but once again, Anko looked astonished as the white haired ninja spoke of such a discrete manner.

"That's classified information. How on earth did you get your hands on the Hyuuga's records?" Anko held her kunai steady, she was on edge now. She didn't know whether these two were going to ambush her for finding out what they know, or not. Hinata too was feeling on edge, in a worried tone, "Yes. I haven't told anyone about that, ever. How could you know?"

Chichi responded this time, "Nothing is classified for Musuko. He gets his information whether he likes it or not." Turning to Hinata, he showed to her a concerned look, "Don't worry, everything will be fine." He then looked over to his brother, "Musuko, I'll be taking my leave for this one. I don't want to know things that she hasn't told me herself."

Musuko nodded to him, "Very well, this should only take a few minutes." Chichi nodded in return, and left the scene. "Besides, the sun's almost completely down. We should be heading home soon."

* * *

"There you are." Seirei stood up in a tree, a few hundred feet away from the building he was looking at. He had finally found the prison that Temari was being kept.

The building looked like a rundown hotel, but that was just to make it blend in with things. Looking closer, the hotel was not that far away from the Hokage Tower, giving a perfect excuse for jounin and ANBU to be crawling around without any suspicion. And since the building is abandoned, no one would have a reason to look, let alone enter the building, making sure that whoever enters is either a fellow ninja or an enemy. The prison was most likely underneath the actual building, but either way, it was going to be hard for Seirei to get in, and then get Temari out without causing a ruckus.

Opening his book, he gave it a quick glance over, and then just as quickly closed it. "You are so lucky." Just then, Seirei grabbed his sword and quickly swung across the right side of his body, using the flat part of the massive blade to strike the invisible figure standing next to him. A thud was heard down below at the foot of the tree. Looking down, Seirei saw the invisible guard quietly groaning from the fall. The invisible jutsu was deactivated and Seirei leapt down right next to this shinobi.

The leaf ninja was on his back looking up at Seirei, but couldn't speak. _'I didn't expect him to be that fast, swinging such a huge sword, only to hit me with the flat part of it.'_ Seirei grabbed the shinobi by the front of his shirt and placed him up against the tree. _'Now I'm screwed.'_ He closed his eyes, waiting for the final blow. Seirei punched him across the face, only to knock him out cold.

"Like I said, 'You are so lucky.'"

* * *

"Naruto?" Sakura sat straight up on the bench, looking at her blonde team mate, "Sasuke?" She stood up as she looked over to her other team mate on her other side. "What's going on?"

"Sakura," the kunoichi turned back to Naruto, "Move away from Sasuke. I'll explain it later, but he's not safe."

"Don't listen to the dobe, Sakura." She turned back to the two on her right, "All I'm here for is to ask you something." Sasuke said calmly, but his eyes said he was anything but calm which made Sakura worried even more.

"Naruto, Sasuke, What's going on?" Sakura asked again.

Ino answered, "Sasuke is hunting down the sky ninja."

"All we're trying to do is to find Musuko, nothing else." Gaara said raising his hands up calmly in defense and wearing an innocent smile.

"You're not going to find him Ga-" Ino held back her last words. _'I can't say Gaara's name. Naruto and Sakura don't know who it is. If they do, there will be a massive fight. I need to keep that from happening as long as possible.'_ Ino continued, "Why are you looking for him anyways?" She began to interrogate the two opposing shinobi.

Sasuke took a step forward, causing Sakura to lean back away from him, "You saw it yourself, Ino! The way they fight, they can't be genin! There's no way they could. They have power, that power is something that I can obtain."

"Sasuke," Naruto stepped forward this time, making Sakura stand back up, "That kind of motivation is the very reason that you're not safe. If you just-"

"Don't you dare talk to me about reason." Sasuke shouted back, "You, you who took out Neji during the finals. You're the perfect example of what the sky ninjas can give." Sasuke's rage then gave to a hint a confidence, "If you could have come this far from them, imagine what could happen to me? I'd be unstoppable." Sasuke being within reach, he grabbed Sakura by her arm and pulled her towards him, "Now tell me!" Sasuke looking straight into her eyes, eyes full of a lust for power, "Where is Musuko?"

"Sasuke, you're hurting me." Sakura whimpered out, feeling his grip getting tighter. The more it tightened, the more she moved down to her knees.

"Let her go!" Naruto's fist came flying by Sakura's head and straight into the Uchiha's making him release Sakura and sent into Gaara behind him. The force of Sasuke knocked both of them down to the ground. "Sakura!" She turned to look at Naruto, holding her arm at the same time, "Get out of here! Run!" Sakura quickly complied and fled to the rooftops behind Ino and Naruto. "Alright. That takes care of one problem." He turned to Ino, "Don't worry, I know who he is."

Ino looked at him confused, "What?"

"The stranger. It's Gaara."

"…What!?" Ino shouted out, "When did I say anything about that?!"

Naruto looking confused, "Didn't you say that Sakura and I didn't know who he was?"

"Never!" Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and returned his attention back to Sasuke and Gaara. 'Again, I'm sure I said that to myself. How did he hear me?'

The attention was changed back to their two opponents, who were both standing back up. One was smiling with a calm face, the other furious that their target escaped. Sasuke looked in the direction that his pink haired team mate had fled. Knowing he was much faster than her or anyone still here, he took charge of things. "You can take care of these two." He said to Gaara, as he crouched down to make a dash, "I'll get our lead." As he jumped up, the Uchiha was quickly stopped in mid-air by an arm of sand grabbing onto his foot, causing him to fall on his front right in front of Naruto and Ino.

"I won't let you do that." Gaara said bringing his sand back near to his person, "Not if you're going like this."

Sasuke looked back at his comrade turned enemy, seeing the still calm look on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. Looking forward again, he saw Naruto in the same position as Gaara with Ino looking more concerned now that Sakura had escaped. "What are you looking at?" He said coldly to Ino, causing her to step and increase her concern for the fallen ninja, "I don't need your sympathy." Sasuke rose up to his feet, closing his eyes, "All I want," reopening his eyes, the Sharingan was revealed, "Are the sky ninja!" He made a mad dash at both Ino and Naruto, since they were the real ones in his way.

Naruto stepped in front of Ino, as Gaara sent out his sand against the Uchiha. Sasuke quickly sent a punch into Naruto's gut, which made him disperse in a cloud of smoke, but that didn't stop him, he continued running through the smoke and straight for Ino. She only had enough time to place up a defense, readying for the hit to come, but instead Sasuke leapt into the air with a trail of sand following close behind.

'_He saw that it was a clone that quickly.'_ Ino noted. She looked to see her opponent dodging the sand in mid-air and land about ten feet to her left. Placing her hand on her mouth, _'That Sharingan of his is going to make this difficult to land any hits. Even Gaara is just missing with his sand. If Naruto could use his shadow clones to outnumber and overcome him, then we should be able to make Sakura safe from his hunt.'_ Putting her hand down, Ino looked over to the side of the battle, "Let's see if he heard that."

* * *

The twilight had fallen on where Musuko, along with Anko and Hinata, were standing in silence. Waiting until they believed Chichi was clear from hearing range.

"Shall I start?" Musuko asked when he believed it to be safe.

"You better." Anko said, "I've been waiting for I don't know how long. So this better be worth my time."

"Very well then." Musuko turned to Hinata, who was looking rather uncomfortable with not knowing what exactly was going on. "Hinata," She responded by looking at him, "I have never once talked to you, am I right?" Hinata took a moment to think over this question, and then finally answered with a nod, "And you have rarely seen me since the Chunin Exams right?" Once again, another nod, "So in effect, I should know very little about you, if not anything about you." She gave a third nod. Musuko smiled, "Thank you for your help. Now then, let's begin the show." He placed his hands together, rubbing them with joy as he looked at Hinata for another second. Then he began,

"Obviously, you are named Hinata Hyuuga. Apart of the Hyuuga Clan in Konoha, and as a matter of fact, you are their heiress."

"That's… That's true." Hinata answered jaggedly.

"No it's not." Musuko said back, attracting both Hinata's and Anko's attentions even more, "You're no longer the heiress. Your father told you that himself. 'A lost cause.' Is what I believe he said, and so the position of heir went to your younger sister, Hanabi. Kind of funny though. A man who only had daughters, and forced both of them to act like a son, one could take it, and the other couldn't, and that is how he chose who he cares for more. And yet… and yet you still became a ninja. You still love your father and you wanted to show him that you weren't a lost cause at all. Sadly, every time was just not enough for him." Hinata's posture slumped down after each sentence he said. Not only was it all true, but it was all the painful truth that she wanted to remove from her memories. Musuko continued, not having the smile on his face for awhile, "Then someone new came into your life, a kunoichi named Kurenai. The mother you never had, she took care of you like her own, and that's even after your father said he did not care if you died in a mission. Even now she cares for you. After her, more came to notice you, you began to train more and more, and you even obtained a crush on a certain someone. Your life finally took a turn into a better world." Hinata's slump began disappearing as more supportive words came from Musuko, "And then, just a few months ago, you met someone that truly did change your life. You met my brother, Chichi. Now this is probably something that you won't ever find on a file, not like most of what I said could anyway. You began training with him, obtaining an increase in strength, speed, and most importantly, self-confidence. Best of all, you fell in love with him, and he fell for you in return. With Chichi, you have gotten along with your little sister, Neji has been training with you while Chichi wasn't, and your father has even begun to reconsider to return you as being the heir of the clan." The sky ninja walked over to Hinata, who now had a small smile on her face, showing that she appreciated what he said about her, Musuko smiled as well, "In the end, you're just like me." He took her into an embrace, which Hinata gladly accepted, "Welcome to the family."

Hinata, holding him tighter, "Thanks."

"Just as a warning, it isn't easy living with us."

"Oh don't worry," Hinata released her hold and lifted up her necklace to look at it, "I already know that." Just then, Nintai came crawling out of her sleeve and wrapped herself around Hinata's index finger, making glassy noises to show her happiness.

"So this is Nintai, huh?" He began petting the little diamonite, receiving sounds of content as well, "At least you'll have-"

"Wait a minute!" the two turned to the snake jounin, remembering that she was here, "You're telling me that everything that he said, was a hundred percent true?" Hinata gladly nodded.

Musuko remained smiling, "I told you, Anko, even Chichi told you. There is nothing that I can't know about you. Nothing is classified to me. That's why I know so much about Hinata, you, or anyone else."

"But…" Anko started, "How do you know all of this then?"

"Like I said, it's kind of a talent of mine. One that I'm not entirely proud of, but that's a story for another time."

Anko crossed her arms, annoyed that she wasn't getting an answer, "Will I ever hear it?"

With glee, Musuko answered, "Depends if we meet each other again." He looked over in the direction of the sunlight, as it slowing was fading away, "But not today, it's getting late, and we need to find Chichi. I bid you farewell for now Anko."

The jounin sighed, knowing it was no use trying to get answer out of the little snot, "Fine. Maybe next time, I'd like to have a match with you too."

"I'll be looking forward to that, Lady Anko."

"I told you, just… Never mind, I'll let you live with that." Musuko gave her a thumbs up, as Hinata waved bye to Anko. She returned both of them gladly, and the two disappeared. "Lady Anko, I think I could get used to that."

* * *

Further off in the woods, Chichi was found kneeling down in front of a tree, looking at a rabbit who was hopping by. Giving a quick whistle, the rabbit stopped in its tracks and looked up at him, twitching its nose. Quietly, he reached out for a handful of grass and placed it in front of the rabbit so that it would come and enjoy a meal. The rabbit was at first fearful, as the hour was getting late and predators we be coming out soon, but the rabbit walked over and received the grass that Chichi had provided for him.

"Now that I have you," The rabbit continued eating away at the grass, not understanding what the human in front of him was saying, "What should I do when you go?" Once he asked that question, another rabbit came hopping over. This one was much smaller, obviously a baby, and had come up next to the first rabbit and started eating from the grass also. After looking at the two rabbits eating for awhile, the sky ninja smiled, "Good answer." He dropped the grass and began walking towards the area that he had just come from, "Good answer."

* * *

Landing on the ground, Sasuke took another hop to the side, to evade the wave of sand from catching him. He knew that they were only trying to capture him and not hurt him, but if this fight goes on too long, they just may eventually turn to that if it's the only way. When both feet touched the ground, he once again leapt up into the air and dodged the sand.

As he was hanging in mid-air, he heard something coming from his side. Looking over, two Naruto's were heading straight at him from one direction, then he looked the opposite direction to see yet two more coming at him.

"Very ingenious of you." Sasuke said with a smirk. His arm stretched out to one of the clones and grabbed it by their collar, "But I know the real one in this skulk." And he brought that clone in his hands across his body, striking the two clones on the other side, puffing them out of existence. Once they puffed out, the remaining of the four had almost grabbed hold of Sasuke, but with his Sharingan, Sasuke swung his leg behind him to send Naruto down to the ground.

Hurtling to the ground, Naruto called out, "Gaara!" the sand ninja quickly responded, sending a tentacle of sand between Naruto and the ground. Landing feet first in the sand, he called out to Gaara again, "Slingshot me up!" Gaara nodded and lowered Naruto close to the ground. The blonde shinobi got into a readied stance as the sand holding his feet shot up and then released him, sending him speeding at Sasuke.

Sasuke, seeing there was no way to dodge the genin, smirked once again, "Quite inventive." He said just before Naruto came flying by and taking the Uchiha with him.

Naruto latched onto Sasuke's arms and locked them behind his back. Sasuke began tugging away from Naruto, knowing full well that he was stronger that his opponent. "Not this time." Naruto retorted. Before Sasuke could get loose, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Clones began appearing on Sasuke, holding onto him. More and more appeared until finally all that could be seen was a giant ball of Naruto clones with the original and Sasuke in the center of it all. "Kage Bushin no Kinko! (Shadow Clone Imprisoning)" With the sudden change of weight from all the clones, they went from flying up, to crashing down onto the ground.

When they landed, smoke rose from the area after a few clones had dispersed from the impact, but still more than half of the ball of clones remained intact. As the smoke cleared, one of the clones from the surface stood up on top, giving a smile and a thumbs up to Ino.

"Thanks for the tip, Ino!"

Ino smiled back with her own thumbs up, "No problem. Happy to help!" _'So he can read my thoughts.'_

"I can read what?" Naruto shouted back. Ino answered, still smiling, "Nothing! Nice job with the clones, didn't know you could think that quickly."

"Well," Naruto scratched the back of his head, smiling even more, "Thanks for the compliment. I don't think-" he stopped short and looked down on the ball he was standing on.

Ino looked confused, "What's wrong?" she was answered by an explosion that blasted away a side of the ball, sending most of the clones flying in all directions, puffing them out into smoke if they already hadn't by the explosion itself.

Gaara ran over to where Ino was, seeing the explosion himself and wanting to get a better view of the situation. Ino had a perfect side view of what was going on, but now with the smoke everywhere, she hadn't a clue what was happening with the ball of clones. Just then, out from the smoke, came a blurry object that landed on a roof off to the side of the garden. Both Ino and Gaara looked up to see the silhouette of Sasuke, with the twilit sky right behind him. They couldn't see the smile on his face, nor the blood on his fist, but what they could see, was his eyes still with the Sharingan in them. For a second or two they saw him on the roof, and then he disappeared in the direction which Sakura had gone.

"Gaara," Ino said, worriedly, "What was your reason for finding Sakura?"

Gaara replied, "My reason was to find out where he would be tomorrow." He also continued looking at the spot where Sasuke was, "For Sasuke, I'm not sure. However, from his eyes, he has a dark purpose."

The smoke had cleared up and all that was left were a few clones rubbing their arms or legs in pain while one was lying on the ground with a bloodied face, the original Naruto. Ino came running over to him with Gaara close behind.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" She asked lifting up his head.

"His clones haven't disappeared, so he shouldn't be dead." Gaara said looking at the weary copies.

"Heh, thanks for your concern." Naruto opened his eyes, straining a smile. "At least you were nicer to me than Sasuke was when we last fought."

Gaara cracked a smile, "Don't mention it."

"What happened back there?" Ino asked her fallen companion.

Naruto moved his hand to his bloodied forehead, wincing from the pain, and then answered, "Something happened."

"………" Ino remained silent, waiting for more of an explanation, "………" "Something happened…?"

BAM!

Naruto lied on the ground with spirals in his eyes and a bump on his head, "That's the vaguest thing you can say! How am I supposed to know what, 'something' is?!"

Gaara showed another smile as he turned around to where Sasuke had been standing. "I'll go after Sasuke," He said to Ino, "You stay here and mend Naruto's wounds from Sasuke. Oh, and the ones from you too." His smile grew at the last sentence as he saw Ino become a bit irritated. "I'll go find what that _something _is." After that, Gaara disappeared into the direction of the twilight which was beginning to turn into night.

'_You know,'_ Ino thought to herself, _'In this light, he's kinda cute.'_

"Ugh," Naruto's eyes opened up, "Who's cute?"

BAM!

Naruto was back down with spirals. "STOP READING MY THOUGHTS!"

* * *

Sakura knew this was the fastest way to her house, and she wanted to get there before Sasuke could get to her first, so sped up even more as she leapt through the forest from branch to branch. All she could think about, was the look that Sasuke had in his eyes, it was not a look that she had ever seen from him, and that thought made her want to get away even more. Luckily Naruto and Ino were there to stand in his way, but she didn't know how long that was going to last. The stranger that was with Sasuke, she didn't know who it was, but she had a feeling that he was pretty strong as well. All these things kept moving further and further, worrying that Sasuke would catch up with her.

Looking up through the trees, she could see stars in a partially clouded sky, knowing that it will be dark soon and it will be harder to find her way out around the trees. So to add another reason to her already long list, she was kept motivated to get home as fast as possible.

As she was running through the treetops, she soared over two people who were walking on the forest floor. She didn't get a good look at them, but she knew they were a boy and girl. Seeing those two together, Sakura felt a tinge of pain in her heart, that's all she ever wanted. She wanted to be with the man she cared about, that they could see each other with a smile on their faces, to eat with each other, to hang out with one another, to hold hands, to kiss. Now, after all that, she is running away from the very man she had been pursuing since before the academy.

Thinking of the times she thought they would have, she then remembered the times that they actually did have: so many rejections that she lost count, cold remarks and being snapped at, absolute ignorance, and nothing came out of his mouth unless it had something to do with a fight, or him. She almost had something going on with Sasuke in the Forest of Death, but after that, he went back to the way he was, if not, worst. She wondered why on earth he would be this aggressive with her now. He had never been like this before. But with all that has happened today, she couldn't think straight, in the end, she just wanted this day to end.

"Sasuke." She whispered, "Why?" Looking forward, her eyes narrowed as she saw a figure blocking her path. Not wanting to run into them, she stopped quickly on the branch in front of the figure. Now that she was closer, she could see who the figure was.

"Why? Because I need something that you have." Sasuke said. Sakura saw his eyes, the Sharingan was still in them, but the same look in his eyes was there as well.

* * *

"Umm, Musuko?" Hinata asked her white haired friend, "How did you know that much about me?"

"Well, Hinata." Musuko put his arm around her, "I'm not going to tell you now. Not until you know your love's whole story."

"My love?" Hinata was kind of caught off guard. She knew who Musuko was referring to though.

Musuko just smile back, "He's going to be one huge handful for you." He turned to look at the Hyuuga heiress, "Do you think you'll be able to still accept him afterwards?"

Hinata remained quiet, thinking over what her white haired friend had said. Then, she felt on her chest the diamond necklace, it felt bigger than before. Lifting it up to eye level, indeed, it had gotten bigger, but after looking at it longer, the bottom half started to move. Nintai had clung herself onto the bottom of the necklace as her new bed. When Hinata saw her Nintai moving about all happily along her arm, she smiled. "Yeah, I think I can handle it."

"That's good. Means we don't have to kill you." Hinata's head shot up and stared at Musuko in worry, "Kidding, just kidding." Hinata's expression became one of annoyance, as she gave a jab into Musuko's stomach, "Doh! Solar plexus."

As he said that, a small rustling of leaves was heard above their heads, probably just a squirrel running back to its home tree before night fell. Cause if it didn't, it would have problems with the predators at night.

"Well, we better find Chichi soon or-" Musuko cut himself off quickly and he started sniffing the air. He looked up where he heard the noise from before, as he looked up, he saw a figure running by quickly, too quickly to be an animal. "Crap." He quickly turned to Hinata and grabbed both her arms, "Hinata, stay here and wait for Chichi. Once he gets here, find me." With that he turned away and dashed off into the woods.

Hinata was left standing where she was, wondering what on earth was going on. Then she sniffed the air too, "Oh no."

* * *

"It's not safe to be travelling in the woods alone at night, Sakura." Sasuke warned his partner, "You might get hurt and stuck in here." He leapt over to the tree that Sakura was on.

Sakura couldn't look away from Sasuke's eyes, not because of a genjutsu, she knew that, but from the sheer fear that if she looked away. When he landed near her, she took a step back, wanting to keep her distance.

Sasuke stared right back at her with his Sharingan, "How long has it been?"

Sakura backed away, not understanding the question, "How long has what been?"

"Since you were a strong girl who stood up for herself. I believe it was the Forest of Death was it not?" Slowly, she nodded her head, "Can you remember what made you become like that. Because I sure can." He took a step forward, "It was those sky ninjas. They made you strong when they were with you, just like they did with Naruto and Hinata. They've both changed, even Gaara has."

"Gaara?" Sakura took another step back.

"Yes, Sakura, Gaara was the one standing next to me. You didn't recognize him did you?" she nervously shook her head, "That's how much he has changed. Anyone who has come in contact with them for a long enough time has been changed, that includes you." Sasuke placed his hand on his chin, "Maybe I'm taking this whole at the wrong angle. Maybe if I'm with someone who has been with them long enough, I can be changed as well. I can become stronger than before." He took another step forward, but now with a friendlier face on than before, which comforted Sakura a little bit. "So what do you say Sakura?" A smile came onto his face, "Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"W-W-Wh-Wha-What?"

"You heard me. You, me, together." Sakura did not respond at all, "Isn't this what you've wanted?" she nodded, "Haven't you been trying to get me to notice you all this time?" she nodded. "This is a dream come true isn't it?" She nodded again, all this time moving back into the tree behind her. "Don't you want this to happen?" Sasuke was now only a few feet away from her, waiting for an answer for the kunoichi, who was now up against the tree.

"…." "Yes." Sakura smiled back at him with pity in her eyes, this made Sasuke a bit uneasy, "Yes, that is what I wanted." She took a step away from the tree and closer to Sasuke, "I wanted to be with Sasuke, the Sasuke I knew back at the academy. He was strong, smart, didn't rely on anyone for support. That's what I wanted, I wanted someone who wasn't me. I wanted someone who I wanted to be. All the time, I've been relying on others to help in times of trouble, not handling it myself, but deep in my heart I knew that it wasn't what I wanted. Then Sasuke showed up, like the knight in shining armor, the perfect scene for any girl."

"Why are you referring me in third person? I'm right here."

Sakura's smile of pity stayed on her face, "That's because… You're not the Sasuke from back then. I don't know who you are."

After hearing that, Sasuke's eyes widened and he backed away a step. Then all of a sudden, he began to smile, "Well, I didn't expect that you of all people would say that to me."

"I know this seems weird," Sakura tried to comfort him, "but it's just-ACK!" Sasuke cut her off, holding her by the neck.

"No one else seems to think that I'm not Sasuke. But for you think that, well then, I guess I should just make you mine anyways." Sasuke slammed Sakura up against the tree, raising her up so that her feet were just above the ground, "You'll be an interesting keep." He said as his free hand went for her shirt.

Trying to defend herself, Sakura threw in a punch at Sasuke, but since she was off the ground and had just a little less reach than Sasuke had, the Uchiha dodged it with ease. To make the attempt fail even more, he caught the fist, and when he saw the second fist, he caught that one too. Holding both hands, Sasuke tightened his grip until he heard the sound of the two hands cracking under the pressure. Knowing that they were weakened, he tossed them to the side and returned to going for the front of Sakura's shirt.

Grabbing hold of it, Sakura barely spoke out, "No." Sasuke tore away pieces of the shirt revealing some skin, "Please, no." He didn't pay attention to her cries as he reached down to her skirt.

"Don't worry, this will only hurt for awhile." He grabbed tightly onto the skirt and started tugging at it.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Sasuke looked to his left to be met with two simultaneous kicks in his side. The Uchiha was thrown off the tree as well as Sakura, who landed down on the ground in a weakened state. Sasuke stilled flew in the air with the attacker still on him. Looking at who it was, Sasuke smiled as he saw Musuko with a face full of rage. Musuko placed both of his fists onto Sasuke's left shoulder, and then shot two needles into where his fists were. Sasuke shouted out in pain as the two landed down on their feet, one holding onto their completely limp arm.

"Well, how inconvenient this is. Not only did you interrupt my fun," Sasuke took a look at his shoulder, "But you've also completely disabled my arm."

"Fun?!" Musuko shouted at the Uchiha, his fist clench tightly, "You think what you were going to do to your team mate is fun?"

"Team mate? She's no longer my team mate. She doesn't even see me as Sasuke, how she can do that I'll never know, but all I know is that she no longer cares for me. So why not just remind her that she likes me."

"Over my dead body."

Sasuke smiled, "That can be arranged if you really want that." Musuko looked into Sasuke's eyes to see the Sharingan still active.

'_He's had that Sharingan active for too long. It should be gone soon.'_ The sky ninja began strategizing to himself,_ 'Until then, I should just try to disable his other arm.'_ And so, he got into a readied fighting position.

"So you really do want to die, huh?" Sasuke also got into his own stance. "Then let's do this."

Musuko observed his target, _'He has only one arm, so jutsus with hand signs are useless to him, and even taijutsu will be an issue for him. This should be quick.'_ As he finished that thought, Sasuke's curse mark began glowing, and then his entire left arm became covered by purple chakra. At first it was an aura that was just emanating from the limb, but in a few more seconds, the chakra condensed into a thin layer of chakra around his arm and hand, and then he started moving it once again. _'…Oh crap.'_

"Didn't see that coming did you?" Sasuke charged at Musuko head on.

When he reached Musuko, Sasuke threw in his right fist, which Musuko slightly ducked to avoid it, and then latched onto the arm as it went over him. Once the arm was in his hold, he placed his free fist on the arm and shot yet another needle into Sasuke's arm. The Uchiha quickly pulled away, before a second needle could be shot in. He felt a tingly sensation in his arm, but as he pulled out the needle, the sensation went away.

"You and your needles." Sasuke muttered as he shook out his right arm, and charged Musuko again.

The sky ninja aimed both of his gauntlets at Sasuke's legs and fired. Sasuke saw it coming, thanks to his Sharingan, and leapt over them. In the air, he did a flip with his leg following fully extended and aimed straight at Musuko. The white haired genin quickly put his arms up for a defense, but the power from the kick was much more than he had expected. Sasuke's kick sent Musuko falling backwards onto his back. When the Uchiha saw his opponent was down he responded by jumping up and performs a second flip kick and connected into Musuko's gut and making his body make an imprint in the ground beneath him.

"AAHHCCK!" coughed out the sky ninja, getting the wind knocked out of him, along with the sound of cracking bones. After the scream he just laid there, with no signs that he was going to get back up anytime soon.

Sasuke stood up from his previous blow, cracking his neck in the process. He looked down at his fallen opponent, "I'm glad that this body is actually capable of defeating you though." Sasuke then started to crack his knuckles, "But just to make sure you won't be a hassle to me in the future," cracked his other set of knuckles, "I should just finish you off right here." He raised his left fist above his head, the fist becoming more enveloped in the purple chakra. As he prepared for his descent, he stopped when he heard movement off to the side.

"Don't." Sasuke saw Sakura weakly raise herself up from the ground and stand up. "Don't you dare-" She fell down to one knee, but she got back up, Sasuke seeing purpose in her eyes, "Don't you dare touch him." She walked towards Sasuke, who just smiled at the scene in front of him.

Releasing some of the chakra from his fist, Sasuke moved to the side of Musuko, standing in between him and Musuko, "Pretty big talk for someone who can barely even stand. Just because you don't like being touched, doesn't mean I can't lay a hand on this small fry." He started turning back to Musuko to finish what he started.

"I said don't touch him!" She started running towards Sasuke, but her legs gave out beneath her, and she fell flat on her face into the ground. Sasuke merely chuckled at the pathetic attempt from his partner. With her face still on the ground, her voice sounded of one of defeat, "If you're going to touch anyone… then… then let it be me." Sasuke stopped and turned to the kunoichi, "I… I deserve it."

With an evil grin, Sasuke walked towards Sakura, "I'm glad that you finally realized your place." He grabbed the back of her shirt and lifted her up to eye level, "Don't worry, this will only hurt for a while. Heh," Sasuke chuckled, "Seems like déjà vu, huh?"

Sakura sniffled, "Yeah," she looked at Sasuke, who no longer had a smile, since he saw Sakura with one on, "It would seem so, but…"

Before Sasuke could react to it, Sakura threw in one fist square into his face. The punch caused Sasuke to drop his prize and have her land safely on her two feet. Blood was coming down his nose as well as the bridge of it, and by luck, the blood had hit his eyes, making him blind to what happened next.

Sakura, "This time, I'm actually gonna get both hits on you." She raised her other fist and sent it flying into the exact same place as the previous hit. The only difference with this one, is that it sent Sasuke flying backwards through numerous trees and even breaking some rocks, clearing a pathway in the forest.

After that powerful attack, the forest was silent, leaves were falling off the surrounding trees, Musuko was still on the ground, and Sakura was found on her knees, both ninjas were smiling. Sakura looked up at the night sky, still with some sunlight over the horizon.

"So, that's what a reason can do." After she said that, she fell onto the ground, a few feet from Musuko.

About a minute or two later, Chichi appeared, with Hinata right there with him. Surveying the area, Chichi rushed over to his brother, while Hinata ran to Sakura. Both of them looked at each other, signaling that the other was okay.

"Hinata," Chichi said, "Stay here and take care of them." He turned to the pathway made by Sakura's punch, "I'm going after whoever did this." Hinata nodded as Chichi disappeared into the pathway.

Off in the distance, up In the treetops, Gaara stood with his arms crossed, "I don't know what we're dealing with anymore." With that, he jumped off in the same direction as Chichi had.

* * *

At the crash site, where Sasuke was found, the moon had given its light to the area of the forest, showing Sasuke's upper section lying up against a giant boulder, while the rest of him was covered in rubble, dirt, and wood. His nose was no longer bleeding, but there were extra wounds and cuts on his arms and legs. But the most noticeable thing was the smile on his face, and the Sharingan in his eyes.

"Yep," Sasuke said to himself, "Definitely an interesting keep." He started chuckling.

While he was chuckling, he didn't notice that another person was arriving from the place he was punched from. Chichi stood a good thirty feet away from where Sasuke was lying, seeing fully well that the leaf genin was not done for.

"I should have guessed that it was you." Chichi said taking some more steps to make him seen in the moonlight, "I don't know how or why you did what you did, but I'm here to make sure it ends here."

From Chichi's perspective, it didn't look like Sasuke had paid any attention, since he was still chuckling.

Sasuke looked up at Chichi from where he was lying, "Chichi, I'm ashamed. I thought you would have seen the change in me at least. Since you fought my previous self at the Finals. Look at me now, I've defeated one of your brothers."

"All I see is a defeated genin who wants nothing but power."

"Oh don't worry about that." Sasuke snickered, "I've got power, I just need more… control, if I may say that."

"Power never won anything. No matter how much more powerful you become, Sasuke, you'll always end up being defeated. You'll be like those bad guys you read in books, they gain every ounce of power in the world, but are still defeated by one person, every time."

"That's true." Sasuke replied as he started standing up out of the dirt burying him, "But in the end, the villain looses because of the writer, who is wanting good to prevail. If you simply change the writer, then the story will go in the villains favor." Sasuke stood fully erect from the dirt pile, staring back at Chichi with his Sharingan, "One man's villain, is another man's hero."

Chichi's fist began to clench. He spoke back to Sasuke, slightly irritated, "You know, you sound just like someone I know back home. And believe, you're starting to tick me off with that kind of talk."

"Well," Sasuke pulled back his hair out of his face, and readjusted his headband, "I hope I continue to sound like him then. Just for you, and your little lay." The final sentence made Chichi squeeze his fists tighter even more. "That's right, get angry, maybe then people will see the kind of monster you and your brothers are." Chichi's fist then loosened, showing the nail marks in his palms.

The gray haired ninja then responded, "Words used to affect me like that. But now…" Without warning, sand was shooting around Sasuke from the boulder behind him and ensnared his arms and legs. Looking behind him, Sasuke saw Gaara with a tiny smile hiding in the brush. "Now," Chichi continued, "I let my actions do most of my talking." Chichi's body became surrounded with blue chakra, "Let's see if you can follow this." In just a second after he finished speaking, Chichi was over at Sasuke's side with his fist in the Uchiha's stomach, and the sand flying off and in different directions. The punch sent Sasuke straight back into the boulder and made an imprint much like he did with Musuko's body.

Chichi looked at the fallen foe, he was still breathing and the Sharingan still active. "I'm impressed Sasuke, you really have improved. You were knocked out last time."

Taking a few more breathes, Sasuke then responded weakly, "As soon as I get… my power. I… will be… ageless." He smiled and closed his eyes, as Chichi's own narrowed down on the leaf genin.

Quickly, Chichi moved his hands up to Sasuke's face and placing his fingers on his eyes. Opening them up, he saw the Sharingan had been deactivated, seeing the boy's normal black eyes. Afterwards, he looked over at Gaara, who had come out into sight. "You should go, others will be here soon." Gaara nodded in reply and then disappeared. As soon as he was gone, the gray haired shinobi drew a kunai, moving the point to Sasuke's throat. When it was inches away from striking a vital point, Chichi took it away, sighing, "This won't fix anything." And he brought back the kunai and placed it on his shoulder again and leaving before any surrounding shinobi had arrived to survey the destruction.

* * *

The moon was high up in the sky and Temari could just see a small beam of light out in the hallways from the tiny window on her cell door. However, why she was still awake was for a different reason. Despite the fact that she was chained sitting up, which made it the least bit comfortable for her, and the constant dripping of water off in the corner somewhere was driving her crazy, the actual reason was because she heard the sound of doors opening further down the hallway, and then a set of footsteps that sounded like they were trying to not make much noise as they came down to her door.

When the steps sounded like they were in front of her door, they stopped, and the ray of moonlight had been covered up by them. As the beam had been covered, the door opened up to have Temari see a silhouette of a man standing in the doorway. She couldn't see perfectly who it was, but she had already known who it was when he stopped at her door.

"I didn't think you guys were going to come back until tomorrow." Temari said, looking at the floor ever since he opened the door.

"They allowed me to have this last chance to get some information out of you, which I'd be happy to do." The man was obviously the interrogator from this afternoon, who was so kind to tell her that her father had died, and beat her while he was at it.

"Well then, that should explain why you were sneaking in here, and trying not to wake anyone else around." The wind mistress gave a little snicker at her own deduction, "…There is no other interrogation at all is there?"

"Heh, at least you were able to find that out. It's not often that we get cute kunoichi in this part of the prisons, not to mention one so high up in their village." He stood right before Temari and placed his hand on the side of her face, "I'm gonna make sure I enjoy this all." As his hand reached her chin, she quickly moved her mouth and took the hand in her teeth and bit him. Pulling away his hand in pain, he looked at her with a smile, he retorted with a slap across her face, "A little fight in you, I like that." He continued with his objective, but keeping his himself away from her mouth as he grabbed hold of her pants and pulled them down while still looking at her. Once done, he then grabbed hold of his own pants, smiling from ear to ear.

"You like a little fight?" Temari looked back at the leaf ninja, "I hope I can be satisfying then."

"That's right, have some fun with this too." Undoing his pants, he stopped quickly, the dripping noise in the corner, it stopped. He looked over in the pitch black corner, only to see a small glimmer of light reflecting of a large piece of metal that flew out of the shadowed area. "Shi-" He made out the small syllable as the blade ran across his body and cutting him in two halves. Blood came spurting out from the cut halves and landing everywhere, some landing on Temari as well.

When Temari looked up from the attack, she saw that her chains were cut off, and standing in front of her was Seirei with a bloodied sword and blood across his chest with spots of it on his face. As soon as she recognized the sky ninja, she stood up and embraced him from behind.

Looking over Seirei to see the dead leaf ninja, "How's that for, 'A little fight'?" she squeezed Seirei even more, "I knew you'd come, I was so sure that you-""…Seirei?" She stopped talking and felt Seirei in her embrace. He was shaking like crazy. Looking around at his face, Seirei's eyes were closed tightly and he was breathing heavily, trying to calm himself down. "Seirei? Was this… your first kill?"

Seirei responded with a shake of his head. He tried to look like he was fine by starting to talk, "I'm okay. We need to get you and your brother out of here before others come." He moved out of Temari's grasp and placed the sword back on his back, not looking towards Temari's direction the whole time. It was clear to the sand kunoichi that Seirei really wasn't fine. She didn't say anything, because she knew that nothing she could say would comfort him. This was murder, something Seirei had seen far too much of and yet still remained alive from it all. "It doesn't really matter." Seirei spoke up again, as he walked out of the cell, "It was his time."

Looking in the hallways on both sides, the sky ninja signaled Temari that it was safe to come out. Complying with his command, she followed close behind him as they ventured to the door next to them, where Kankuro was located. Opening the door with the help of Seirei's blade, the two of them found the puppeteer sitting up against the far wall, sleeping to his heart's content.

Temari let out a sigh, "When we get back home, I'm going to kill him." With help from Seirei again, they released Kankuro from his chains and picked him onto his shoulder, still fast asleep.

"Okay," Seirei headed out of the cell, "When we get far enough away from the village, you two are on your own to getting back to Suna."

"What about Gaara?" Temari asked, "We can't return without him."

Seirei responded, "One of my brothers probably knows where he is. As long as you guys wait for him before entering your village, everything should be fine." Hoisting the male sand ninja further up on his shoulder, Seirei began moving out.

As they were moving along, slowly passing by the guards, Temari had one more question to ask, "Are those two really your brothers?"

With a broken smile, "You should know by now, that they can't be." That answer reminded Temari of what she was told before by Seirei, and so she lowered her head in regret.

"I'm sorry." After that, neither one of them spoke.

It took them awhile to manage their way out of the prison, and it was even harder when the leaf shinobi found the dead body and two empty cells. However, they had managed to get by without being noticed, which itself was a miracle since in the middle of it all Kankuro began to snore. When they did get out of the building, Temari finally had it with the slumbering brother and made sure he was wide awake. Now with all three awake, they were able to travel at a faster pace, and within an hour or so, they had managed to get far enough from the village walls.

Looking up to the sky, Seirei saw the moon making its descent to behind the horizon. Seeing the two off, he gave them a friendly salute and then turned around to go back to the village. Temari quickly stopped him from doing so however.

"Wait." Seirei turned his head, but kept his body facing the village, "Come with us." Seirei smiled at the request. He did not answer her. He just turned back around and continued walking. Temari didn't know how to respond to that at first, but then she recomposed herself, "Then I'm coming with you." Again, Seirei stopped. He heard her footsteps coming up behind him. Before she got close enough, Seirei took out his sword and plunged it into the ground between Temari and himself, forming cracks to make the dividing line even more visible. The sky ninja's answers were both pretty clear to Temari; both being 'No'. However, that didn't stop her from trying again. "Please, I want to be with you. Going back without you, everything will go back to the way it was, I'll be alone."

"Oh come on, you still had me, sis."

"Shut up Kankuro! You're killing the moment!" the area became quiet once again and Temari continued, "I don't want to be alone like that again." Her head fell and she lost sight of Seirei. When she did, the black haired shinobi walked up to her and put her in an embrace. This gave her a quick shock, but remembering who it was, she became relaxed and content at the results.

"I promise," Seirei finally spoke, "You won't ever be alone again." As he finished what he said, he let go of Temari and turned back to his sword. Pulling it out, he started walking to the village, "Go home Temari." He turned slightly to reveal a warm smile to the kunoichi, and when she saw also smiled.

"Let's go Kankuro." Her brother gladly nodded, and the two disappeared towards their village.

"Finally, the night is over." Seirei said before he too disappeared, in the opposite direction.

* * *

**Done! It's Finally Done! That was probably my toughest chapter. Everything else should hopefully go more smoothly. I hit so many blocks here that I thought I had enough for a tetris game. All that I hope for is that you all enjoy this chapter and also review, that will really make me feel that my hard work wasn't in vain. **

**And one thing that I need to say before I end. Some people, and probably most others, have most likely stopped reading this for the possible overpoweredness of the OC Sky Ninjas, well I don't blame you. They're still so much of a mystery to the readers that it totally looks like they can't be beaten. However with these past chapters I hope they've become more and more human to you guys and trust me they will become more so. Well…kinda.**

**As always, reviews would be appreciated, and I'm glad you read this because it means you read the whole chapter. Later, I'm gone like grandma's cookies sitting on the table unsupervised.**


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